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?

 

[Il_leone]

Clearly someone in the Mercedes board wants a German driver to represent the brand as much as Ocon appears to have jumped ahead of him the queue for a Mercedes drive

Looks like George Russell's potential progress might also be held up

 

[RasputinLives]

Wehrlein is not really German.

 

[Rutherford]

Wehrlein is not really German.

Dear Mr. Trump,

Could you remind me of Mr. Obama's nationality?

Thanks in advance.

 

[RasputinLives]

He's not German in the same way Nico Rosberg is not German. He doesn't live there and he holds a passport from Mauritius.

Nice sensationalist Trump card though.

Edit - whilst I'm on the subject Romain Grosjean ain't French either! A lot of drivers race under a licence for a motorsport federations that is not their nationality.

 

[Rutherford]

He also holds a German passport too and he grew up there. He certainly isn’t very Mauritian...
Going by your argumentation Hamilton isn’t British either, he could hold a passport from Grenada and he hasn’t lived in the UK since 2008.

I‘m not very British either I guess. I love in Germany and hold both passports...

 

[RasputinLives]

No. You're British. No German would ever support either of the Bristol teams that'll own Rovers.

My information was that Wehrlein was born and raised in Mauritius and just raced under a German federation licence - hence me linking him to Grosjean and Rosberg. If this is incorrect and he was born and raised in Germany then I take the none German comment back. Not what I've been lead to believe though.

As for Hamilton - he has never paid British taxes and lives in the US so he might as well be American.

 

[gethinceri]

He was born in Germany and spent at least some of his pre-teen years there.

 

[RasputinLives]

In that case I retract my statement regarding his Germanity.

 

[Rutherford]

No. You're British. No German would ever support either of the Bristol teams that'll own Rovers.

I‘m amazed that you know such things about me, not even I could remember that I stated which team I support. They’re just as rubbish as Arminia Bielefeld. My hometown club.

Wehrlein spent his entire career in Germany.

 

[RasputinLives]

I know everything (I Don't but I remembered that bit). I'm a Notts County fan for my sins.

As stated above if that is the case I retract my statement. It was not a race or immigrant thing it was that I was under the belief that he was born and bred in Mauritius!

 

[Il_leone]

Wehrlein was born in Germany to German father and Mauritian mother.

Anyways the point is he bosses ( Toto and Nikki's bosses) want a German driver representing the team. One of them even said Wehrlein is the future of Mercedes . That is a bold statement to make when he was only 21 years old.

They are covering their bases in the event they will never get Vettel to drive for them which does not seem like it as long as Hamilton is there

 

[Il_leone]

#DTM2018 hashtag on Twitter

this is how DTM's twitter page have taken to the comeback of Pascal as it were

 

[Hamberg]

They seem mildly pleased

 

[RasputinLives]

I think the words 'mildly pleased' sum up Pascal's career.

 

[RasputinLives]

So after all the Merc spin around Wehrlein leaving their programme has cleared the real reason comes to light. Merc wanted Pascal to head up their Formula E programme and he refused because he wanted to get back into F1.

Wehrlein turned down Formula E chance to focus on F1 return

It's understandable I guess but as he is now no longer backed by Merc his chances of making it back to the grid are slim to none.

 

[Andyoak]

He's played a blinder there...
Most people are able to shoot themselves in the foot: He's managed both feet.

Nowhere left for him now.
Best get on the Aldi management training plan.

 

[Angel]

Oh dear, poor Pascal. We've all made bad mistakes in our lives I'm sure, but this is a huge one it seems.

 

[Il_leone]

Well we will just have to wait and see if he Toro Rosso will take him on now he is no longer affiliated with Mercedes.

The man has burned bridges with every other team in the paddock and only the protection of Mercedes has given him any hope of getting into F1 but even now Toto's favourite is Ocon whilst the board backed Werhlein.

If he does get into F1 then it is really his last chance I feel

 

[F1Brits_90]

what a idiot because look at Vergne & Buemi. they perfrom very well became formula e champ & all of a sudden their having a F1 comeback touted.

 

[Il_leone]

F1Brits_90 The issue is more Mercedes HWA want a longer commitment to Formula E but Wehrlein is adamant to get back into F1 asap

So you have to understand his point that I can't wait 3 years before getting another shot at F1