Rio Haryanto has had his race driver contract terminated by Manor.
The Indonesian was searching for additional backing from his homeland, thought to be around seven million Euros, to complete his rookie season with the team, but that bid seems to have failed.
Haryanto may still have a future with the team, however, the team announced they have offered the 23-year-old the opportunity to stay on as reserve driver.
Manor’s racing director Dave Ryan praised Haryanto’s work but admitted the drying up of funds proved fatal to keeping his seat.
“Rio has been a much-valued member of our team since January when we signed a contract with him for this season,” a statement issued on the team’s Facebook page read.
“Some time ago, his management indicated that they were experiencing difficulties honouring the obligations of that contract beyond the Hungarian Grand Prix.
“Rio’s team have worked tirelessly to try to resolve that situation with his Indonesian backers and we have supported those efforts as much as possible, including allowing Rio to race in Germany. ”
“Unfortunately, we reached a point where, in the best interests of the team, we were forced to explore other options for the remainder of the season.”
Mercedes-backed Renault reserve driver Esteban Ocon will take the seat alongside Pascal Wehrlein for the remainder of the season.
The Frenchman currently competes for Mercedes in DTM and has also completed several Friday practice sessions for Renault this season as well as driving the Mercedes F1 car at the post-Silverstone test.
At 19, Ocon has already enjoyed great success winning both the European F3 and GP3 titles and Mercedes were believed to be looking for a potential F1 race seat in 2017.
When asked if he felt ready to step up at Hockenheim, Ocon told Motorsport.com: “If there is an opportunity anywhere, I would take it.
“I would be ready, that’s for sure. I’ve been around for a long time now, driving quite a lot of cars, so if there is an opportunity I’d be happy to take it.”
He also said he would be willing to give up his DTM seat, where he has struggled to make an impact, for the chance to race in F1.
“For sure my goal is Formula 1,” he said. “I’m happy to be in DTM but I don’t want to stay there for too long. So if there was an opportunity in F1, I would push them [the management] to accept that.”
