Mercedes has appointed DTM racer Pascal Wehrlein as its official reserve driver.
Wehrlein had his first run in an F1 car on Thursday at the Algarve circuit in Portugal at the wheel of a W03 used by the team in 2012, covering 109 laps.
He has also spent 30 days in the team’s simulator this year, logging 12,000 kilometres on the W05.
“Aside from Nico [Rosberg] and Lewis [Hamilton], he is the driver most familiar with all the procedures of our F1 W05 Hybrid and therefore the right choice for the role of reserve driver,” said Mercedes motorsport director Toto Wolff.
“He took an important step last week when he drove a Formula One car for the first time – and we were pleased to see him deliver a composed and impressive test, in line with our expectations.”
“It took me a few laps to get used to the incredible speed, the very hard brakes and the high cornering speeds,” said Wehrlein of his F1 test, “it’s in another league compared to the DTM”.
“But I adapted quickly and was able to improve in each of my short and long runs. In total, I drove 500 km and didn’t want to head back into the pits.”
“It certainly helped that I have been working hard in the simulator since February,” he added. “For me, it is a nice recognition of my efforts that I have been nominated as reserve driver.”
The 19-year-old scored his breakthrough victory in Germany’s touring car championship yesterday at the Lausitzring.
He joined the series last year after finishing fourth in his first season in European F3 in 2012. He won Germany’s Formula Masters championship in 2011.
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Image © Daimler/Hoch Zwei
Robbie (@robbie)
15th September 2014, 13:43
Looks like Lewis’s younger brother.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
15th September 2014, 19:09
@robbie I wouldn’t say that but I would say that Pascal fits the profile of a very marketable F1 driver as Lewis does, possibly meaning that Mercedes entrust Rosberg with the speed and allow the eventual departure of Lewis knowing they can replace him with an attractive youngster.
Following McLaren’s comeback to Santander it’s clear that McLaren will either get Lewis or Fernando and apparently with Wehrlein on back up it’s Lewis going back to McLaren and Fernando staying.
Deej92 (@deej92)
15th September 2014, 21:47
McLaren’s comeback to Santander? They have sponsored McLaren since 2007 (to a lesser degree since 2010) including since Hamilton left.
JeffreyJ
15th September 2014, 22:14
It’s funny you say Lewis should watch himself. I was actually thinking that this is more of an alarm bell for Nico perhaps.
Toto Wolff said after the Spa incident that “if Lewis thinks there is nothing Mercedes can do he doesn’t know what we are capable off” or something along those lines. Of course this quote from Toto combined with the team saying nothing about the actual penalty and other very circumstantial ‘evidence’ (to say the least) became part of the Monza lock-up conspiracy.
However, when I read this story about Wehrlein I couldn’t help but notice that the kid has now qualified for his super license. Could it be that Nico is forced to sit out a race later this year as part of his penalty? Or at least that both of them now face an emediate 1 race ban if they mess up again? I mean, the team did fine this year and in previous years without a 3rd driver didn’t they (I think Sam Bird drove for them during the YDT in 2012 but he wasn’t officially part of the team as far as I know of)
Ryan (@ryanisjones)
16th September 2014, 12:04
Ooooooorr… Mercedes third driver for when they run three cars next season. ;-P
RL
16th September 2014, 7:22
Looks nothing like Nicholas.
More like Cristiano Ronaldo after a bad trip to the barbers. Wouldn’t matter if he does the job though.
Jack (@jmc200)
15th September 2014, 13:47
I was kind of hoping Di Resta would get it, but he’s already had his go, now it’s time for another young DTM ace to try and crack F1. Wehrain’s an excellent driver (and at 19 he has a lot of potential), but there are are many young, fast, Germans who can’t get into F1 who now race in DTM, namely the new champion Marco Wittmann. He’s won the championship in a record time of just two seasons, I’d love to see him in F1, and Rob Wickens for that matter :(
Jack (@jmc200)
15th September 2014, 13:49
*Wehrlein
Iestyn Davies (@fastiesty)
15th September 2014, 15:05
I can’t help but think that Glock-Wittmann sounds like a BMW F1 line-up. But now that they are not in F1, thus they are driving in DTM.
hunocsi (@hunocsi)
15th September 2014, 18:28
I think di Resta was nominated as the 3rd driver at most races this season.
manu
15th September 2014, 20:25
Di Resta is okay but he was beaten by both Sutil and Hulkenburg, so he lost some speed in F1 and thats probably why he wasn’t given another chance and will probably not get one again, its sad but its life. Secondly, he wouldn’t benefit the team as a reserve driver because he is old, Merc are looking for young drivers who will hopefully hang around for 10 years or so, in 10 years di resta will be well in his 30s and might only be able to race for 2-3 years. Wehrlein is 19 so even if he learns for 5 years he will still be young and have 10 years to race.
Chris
16th September 2014, 8:36
Wickens drives even more dangerous than Maldonado. He’d kill someone sooner or later if they’d put him into a F1 car.
nidzovski (@nidzovski)
15th September 2014, 13:48
Boom! Just like that! What a surprise! A brave move.
pking008 (@pking008)
15th September 2014, 15:53
Well, that would be something for a German car F1 team to have two black dudes (Lewis and this guys) as their driver line up now, wouldn’t it? But i suspect his preparation is as replacement for Lewis Hamilton I fear.
manu
15th September 2014, 18:01
Nah they need Lewis. It will come a time when the others will catch up and at that time they will need Lewis’ abilities to drive beyond the abilities of the car. Nico tends to get exactly what the car can do but Lewis can eek out a few extra tenths. Merc will not be 2s faster forever.
JCost (@jcost)
15th September 2014, 18:26
Curiously, Pascal will be considered “more German” than Nico to many people :)
JeffreyJ
15th September 2014, 22:30
Nico was born in Monaco and has lived there to this day. It’s not surprising German’s don’t view him as ‘German’.
Actually, Germans are not into Vettel all that much either eventhough he is really…eh.. German haha. Somehow they are still all very much into Schumi and otherwise not overly interested in F1 at all it seems like.
As for Wehrlein. I think he is very marketable given his mixed racial background and general good looks. He’s also very marketable as ‘German’ as well and worldwide there is no driver as marketable as Hamilton. Nico meanwhile ain’t that popular in Germany or outside in general, despite his Di Caprio face and German passport.
If Mercedes would factor marketability into their driver’s line-up decision making process over keeping Nico and Lewis together as the strongest or one of the strongest driver pairings out there, then I think Lewis is the one to keep.
It would be a shame though, especially if Rosberg would end up in a midfield team like Force India or McLaren (unless they get back to sharp end with Honda but I doubt they do in the first few years)
Stig Semper Fi (@stigsemperfi)
16th September 2014, 5:15
@JeffreyJ, Nico was born in West Germany, he just spent most of his childhood growing up in Monaco.
dex
16th September 2014, 10:01
Mercedes want at least one German driver, so I think Nico has to watch his back. They tried two Germans before at the expense of not putting the best driver available in the seat. I don’t think they will make that mistake again. The best driver available (ie. Lewis) and one German driver to satisfy the Mercedes board.
Formula Indonesia (@)
15th September 2014, 16:00
Not a bad young driver, he still got time to improve
wsrgo (@wsrgo)
15th September 2014, 19:06
This is the guy who beat Raffaele Marciello, Felix Rosenqvist, and came close to beating a much more experienced Daniel Juncadella in his first F3 Euroseries season in 2012.
Let’s hope he can achieve his dreams.
George O'Donnell (@georgeod)
15th September 2014, 19:38
Who was the reserve driver?
manu
15th September 2014, 20:04
Sam Bird, that was last year, this year I don’t know who they were using.
hunocsi (@hunocsi)
15th September 2014, 22:45
di Resta, but sometimes he wasn’t even at the circuit.