Pascal Wehrlein

So German born Pascal Wehrelein looks set to be the next new driver on the F1 grid joining the Manor team. If the PR is to be believed he's joining the Manor team at a good time as they set to jump up to the midfield pack. We have been promised that before though. As for Wehrelein himself most fo us will know him as the Mercedes test driver and DTM Champion but will have seen very little of him in single seaters. Thats mainly because Merc took him out of single seaters fairly quickly and he last did a full season of single seaters in 2012 doing mainly F3. His result were top end but not overly impressive but Mercedes obviously saw something.

Wahrelein is very much one of Toto Wolffs men and I think that has helped him a lot in finally landing him a drive where previous Merc test drivers (Sam Bird etc) have failed to do so. He is quite obviously quick in DTM but there have been accusations that he was shepherded to the title in 2015 by his team mates. He is quite obviously a quick driver but it will be interesting to see how quickly he adapts to F1. The last driver to jump straight from DTM to F1 was Paul Di Resta and the only other driver to do it before that was Christijan Albers (remember him? thought not) so its not a proven success rate.

Having read some of his twitter feed he seems a nice enough guy and whilst they'll talk about him being a young German its worth remembering that he has a dual nationality as he was actually born in Mauritius. That technically makes him the first F1 driver from the content of Africa for as long as I can remember. I suspect we only have South Africans prior to that.

Will eb itnerested to see how he goes, I'm slightly skeptical but am willing to be proved wrong. Anyone got any thoughts?

 

[Olivier]

This article (it's James Allen. Sorry)

Sorry, I have to ask. Why you apologize? Is he not a respected f1 journalist? Is it because of his former life as a commentator?

 

[FB]

No, it's because he's a tosser.

Back to the story, Pascal better have some really serious problem otherwise he will be a laughing stock amongst fans and drivers.

 

[RasputinLives]

Olivier I'm not a fan of his current brand of journalism and have expressed this a lot on CTA. I'm sure he is a lovely bloke and very knowledgeable but a lot of times his blog, IMO, is just pure click bait.

This is all my opinion of course and I'm sure some people value his blog greatly.

 

[gethinceri]

I don't.
Because of FB's explanation.

 

[RasputinLives]

So there was some discussion over on Sauber thread that there may not be a drive for Wehrlein in F1 next year. Reading between the lines of this article Toto Wolff appears to think the same. Wehrlein does not appear keen to front Merc's Formula E challenge though.

Wehrlein not keen on Formula E switch | PlanetF1

 

[teabagyokel]

I think he wants a job for 2018, somewhere. It might be more attractive in October 2019 when the seat is almost ready!

 

[Il_leone]

It looks like curtains for Pascal in F1 for now ..a very strange decision in Singapore to go on intermediate tyres when everyone else was on inters .. he ended even further behind. He nearly got a point through the high attrition rate at Singapore but was over a lap down

there does not appear to be drives for him left even at Sauber i.. oh dear not long ago he was touted as the next upcoming driver from Germany and its al gone down south

Looks like its back to DTM for him surely a drop to F2 would be insulting for his career?

 

[The Artist.....]

It looks like curtains for Pascal in F1 for now ..a very strange decision in Singapore to go on intermediate tyres when everyone else was on inters .. he ended even further behind. He nearly got a point through the high attrition rate at Singapore but was over a lap down

there does not appear to be drives for him left even at Sauber i.. oh dear not long ago he was touted as the next upcoming driver from Germany and its al gone down south

Looks like its back to DTM for him surely a drop to F2 would be insulting for his career?

Good riddance... he's always struck me as being hyped because he had been signed up by Mercedes, and thus given all the advantages he needed; when he was being out qualified last season by Haryanto, that should have been the message people were looking for!

 

[cider_and_toast]

He will be cursing the name 'Rosberg'.

 

[Il_leone]

I meant when everyone else was on slicks but I don;t see Pascal getting a drive until Perez or Ocon leaves Force India for a start but even then the team are not so sure they want to take him

 

[RasputinLives]

So in all the sessions I watched this weekend in Brazil Sky F1 were full of praise for Wehrlein - saying what a great season he has had. As this is the first time in half a dozen races he has out qualified Ericsson I struggle to understand the sudden praise that hasn't been given to him before.

The cynical side of me might suggest that Sky F1 rely on a lot of Mercedes hospitality and Toto Wolff appearing on their show and that if Merc want to promote Pascal in order to land him the Williams drive they might have made a few conditions to that hospitality.

 

[Galahad]

I think that's a little cynical even for my taste. Pascal is a good driver being hobbled by his team. Whether deliberately or due to negligence I dare not say. But Ericsson's mates own the team, so...

 

[Il_leone]

RasputinLives You know I was wondering why Sky kept beefing up that Di Resta was going to get the 2nd Williams seat apart from he works for Sky which was in stark contrast to BBC who said he was an outsider and now become a longshot

Biasedness indeed and taken a few corporate treats from Merc


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Galahad Wehrlein has been spoon fed by Mercedes but now Williams have put Kyvat supposedly ahead of him in the queue which says a lot that they don't really want Pascal

 

[Il_leone]

I should add since Force India gave George Russell a run - another Merc junior driver it might be that he might get a seat in 2019 or 2020 depending on the two current drivers situation again another team that don't really want him

 

[RasputinLives]

I think that depends on what Russell does in F2 next year. I think for all his noise about wanting Lando Norris as a team mate he'll breathe a sigh of relief if Norris goes to Super Formula instead. Russell is good (been a fan since his F4 days) but Norris is better.

 

[Il_leone]

I do think if Mercedes wanting to carry on in F1 and have more influence over the midfield teams then getting them to have their young drivers is one way. It will be interesting to see Norris vs Russell if they do make it in F1.
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Should Russell be promoted I am trying to figure out who would be willing to take Wehrlein and I can only see Williams but that can only happen if Stroll is not in the same team

 

[RasputinLives]

Shocking news guys! Hope you're sitting down when you read this because it's completely out of the blue!

Wait for it.....Pascal Wehrlein has been named as the Mercedes test driver!

Wehrlein offered Mercedes test driver role | PlanetF1

Oh my god. Did not see that coming.

 

[F1Brits_90]

I find that strange. Because he's not considered good enough for mercedes to replace rosberg like when red bull rushed verstappen into the senior team & ocon is clearly ahead in the pecking order.

So why are they holding on to him

 

[Olivier]

His dad plays gold with Mr Mercedes.

 

[gethinceri]

Like Kvyatt's role for 2018 they're just allowing him to use the Playstation.