Mercedes junior driver Pascal Wehrlein has said he would be happy to stay at Manor Racing despite the swirling rumours linking him to numerous seats up and down the Formula One paddock in recent weeks and months.
Having done extensive running for Mercedes and Force India over recent years including testing work on the 2017 tyres, the German has had gained incredible amounts of experience driving different cars and tyres despite his very young age.
“Of course the target is to arrive in the best position possible, but let’s see what happens next year,” he told Autosport.
“I would be happy to stay here [at Manor]. The team has made big progress since last year and also this year since the first race, which I am really happy about.”
Through the hundreds of laps he has completed for Mercedes at the Pirelli tests, his knowledge of the 2017 tyres could be very useful to Manor’s development and testing programs also if he were to stay.
Having scored Manor’s only point of the season at the Austrian Grand Prix, the former DTM champion leaves the team in the coveted tenth place position in the Constructors’ championship. This would mean millions in prize money should the team stay there.
Manor would like to keep both drivers on their books to help bolster their growing team, but it is likely they could lose at least one of them as current Manor teammate Esteban Ocon is also being linked with the vacant seat at Force India.
With such drastic regulation changes going into 2017, continuity would be key to development for any team and the driver line-up would be a big part of that.
“I am involved in the things that will happen next year and the development,” Wehrlein added.
“[But] I don’t know at the moment – truly I know zero about next year.”
As it stands, Read Motorsport believe it is increasingly likely that the 22-year-old will stay on with the British team for another season.
