Sauber F1 Team has confirmed former Manor driver Pascal Wehrlein will drive for the team in 2017.
As expected, the German will partner Marcus Ericsson at Sauber for the upcoming Formula One season. This news rules out Wehrlein as a candidate to be Lewis Hamilton’s teammate at Mercedes with Williams’ Valtteri Bottas expected to be announced as a Silver Arrows driver later this week.
With the future of Manor Racing currently uncertain, Wehrlein was given no choice but to sign for Sauber.
Wehrlein replaces the departing Felipe Nasr, who despite scoring Sauber’s only points of 2016, will be without a drive in 2017.
“I am very delighted at being a part of the Sauber F1 Team for the upcoming F1 season,” Wehrlein said.
“It is a new challenge in a new team, and I am really excited and looking forward to this new adventure. Our objective is to establish ourselves in the mid-field and to score points on a regular basis.
“That being said, I will do my best to support Sauber. Now I am looking forward to meeting everyone in the team and to tackling the preparations for the 2017 season.
“That being said, I will do my best to support Sauber. Now I am looking forward to meeting everyone in the team and to tackling the preparations for the 2017 season. I want to say a big thank you to Sauber for trusting in me and giving me this great chance. And surely, a huge thanks also goes to Mercedes for the support.”
Sauber has a strong track record of nurturing young talent with the likes of Kimi Raikkonen, Felipe Massa and Sergio Perez starting their careers with the Swiss-based team and going onto bigger teams such as McLaren and Ferrari.
