An 11th place finish is often the product of a forgettable afternoon for a driver buried in F1’s fierce midfield battle. For Pascal Wehrlein, 11th place in Bahrain instead marked a promising return following a winter of pain.
The Sauber driver had missed the first two rounds of the 2017 campaign following back injuries sustained in an accident at the Race of Champions in January.
As a result of a truncated winter training regime, the German deemed himself unfit to complete a race distance in both Australia and China.
The decision was met with criticism, yet an excellent showing in Bahrain served to vindicate Wehrlein’s prior caution.
“I’m surprised how good it is,” he conceded when speaking with Autosport. “But that’s what we could have expected because the strength went away but it’s coming back quite quickly.
“You can see what a big change these two weeks of training have been to me and I’m just really happy overall.
“This race was great in terms of performance and I’m really happy to come back like this, it’s like I’ve never been away.”
Critics suggested that in offering seat time to Ferrari junior Antonio Giovinazzi, Wehrlein was undermining his own standing within the young driver pecking order.
However, both Sauber and Wehrlein were defiant in the face of critics, aiming to quickly extinguish the conspiracy theories that suggested his fitness was merely a smoke screen for intra-team politics.
Evidently seeking to end the narrative, Wehrlein took to Twitter on Monday afternoon to post images alluding to the extent of his injuries and illustrating the nature of his recovery.
Twitter: That’s history
Many thanks to those who worked so hard with me since my injury happened
Especially… https://t.co/BUs1OfzYXY (@PWehrlein)
In response to the criticisms he endured during the first two weekends of the season, he added, “The best answer is to show the performance on track and to come back like this.
“I came back like I never had a break.”
It may have been a race without a points reward, but Wehrlein’s solid Bahrain Grand Prix weekend served to silence his doubters, as he demonstrated an abundance of mental strength and speed despite his race rustiness.
Wehrlein has reminded those who had forgotten just why he is considered as one of world motorsport’s most promising talents.
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