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Pascal Wehrlein says he is still waiting to know if he will make his formula one debut in 2016. Up and down the grid, the only official race seat vacancies still up for grabs for this year are at the backmarker Manor.
Mercedes reserve and new reigning DTM champion Wehrlein, 21, is in the running for a seat, but so too are Alexander Rossi, Will Stevens and the handsomely-backed Indonesian Rio Haryanto. And Toto Wolff admitted recently that Manor's other candidates are the favourites, as Mercedes is only willing to spend so much on a place for the young German.
When asked about the prospect of making his F1 debut in 2016, Wehrlein said this week: "The situation is unchanged. I hope that soon there is something concrete," he told the German website motorsport-total.com. "As a driver, you want to prepare purposefully for the task ahead."
Wehrlein suggested that if he does not make it into F1 this year, he will instead spend the season defending his title for Mercedes in DTM. "No matter how it turns out, I look ahead with pleasure into 2016 as I have so much fun in DTM. And perhaps I will get a chance in formula one for the 2017 season," he added.
Wehrlein said there is no point becoming frustrated about the situation in F1, where drivers with more financial backing are increasingly at the front of the queue. "I cannot change the situation," he insisted. "There are just other drivers who can bring a lot of money. These colleagues are of course happy they can do it that way. It doesn't annoy me because I begrudge them a cockpit, but because I really did everything I could in 2015 in order to put myself towards formula one," Wehrlein added.
"It is also true that even the drivers who come into F1 with money are not exactly slow. And some of the teams are in the situation that they are dependent on that money. So it's just the way it is," he said. (GMM)
Grand Prix of Belgium
G. Zhou
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Replies (2)
Login to replyPompey
Posts: 84
Catch 22. Driver paying for a seat unlikely to progress any further, versus raw talented driver in team with no money unlikely to progress any further!
khasmir
Posts: 893
True, it's just the way it is. Not much you can do about that.
Also true: even with all the money in the world you need to have at least some talent for going fast. But in some cases things are getting a bit out of proportions. Cough... Crashtor... ;)