Manor rookie hoping he is on glide path to eventual Mercedes seat
Wednesday 13 July 2016 15:48, UK
Pascal Wehrlein believes his first F1 points finish in Austria shows he would be ready for a sudden call-up to the Mercedes team.
The F1 rookie produced one of the star performances of last weekend's race to qualify 12th and then finish in 10th place to secure Manor just their second-ever F1 points finish.
Wehrlein, who does not turn 22 until October, is the leading light in Mercedes' young driver programme and would theoretically be first in line should F1's world champions need a stand-in for Lewis Hamilton or Nico Rosberg.
The latest crash between the Mercedes team-mates in Austria has raised the spectre of the world champions imposing rules to avoid a repeat, with speculation the pair could even be threatened with race suspensions if they clash on track again.
Asked by Sky Sports News HQ if he would feel ready to jump into one of F1's leading two seats at short notice, Wehrlein replied: "Of course. I always feel like I'm ready for that.
"I'm still in a big learning process because it's just my ninth race and I came from DTM, which is a touring car series. I did that for three years and so I'm still getting used to a single-seater car, but in general I feel ready."
'Mercedes could suspend drivers'
Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff last week described Wehrlein as a "special" talent and the Manor driver said: "I really think that Austria was an amazing performance from the team and myself.
"In qualifying, to arrive in P12 with the Manor car and then in the race to score our first point [together], was just an amazing result.
"It was also good to show the other people that I'm here, I'm ready and to prove what I can do."
Despite the repeat run-ins between Hamilton and Rosberg, Mercedes are still expected to extend the latter's contract to keep the successful partnership in tandem.
Wehrlein's chances of earning a promotion may not come until 2019 at the earliest, but the young German is hopeful he is on an eventual glide path to the Mercedes team.
"At the moment, I'm a Mercedes young driver, reserve driver and I've been the reserve driver for the last two years," he said.
"I do some testing next week, for example, for Mercedes and I hope that I can show some good performances in the races this year and the test for Mercedes. Then hopefully one day I can sign the contract for the race seat."
