F1 Madness

Tag: Pascal Wehrlein

  • F1 2015: Wehrlein And Manor F1

    F1 2015: Wehrlein And Manor F1

    Mercedes F1 reserve driver Pascal Wehrlein will have to wait until 2016 to find out his racing fate.

    The 21 year old driver is tipped to join the Manor F1 team in 2016 thanks to an engine supply deal between the team and his current Mercedes employers. However, no deal on his future will be announced this year. The German driver made history in 2015 when he became the youngest ever DTM champion.

    Mercedes boss Toto Wolff did confirm that talks are being held with Manor F1 and a potential seat for Wehrlein.

    “He definitely has the ability to be in Formula 1, to be one of the very successful ones, but it needs to be the right place for the right value,” Wolff told Autosport.

    “If we can’t make it happen for ’16, then we’ll give him lots of mileage in an F1 car, be it with us or another team in the form of a testing programme, and then we will see what opens up for 2017.”

  • Wehrlein Tops The Time Sheets on Day 1 of Rain Hit Austria In-Season Test

    Wehrlein Tops The Time Sheets on Day 1 of Rain Hit Austria In-Season Test

    Mercedes reserve driver Pascal Wehrlein ended on top of the time sheets after the first day of the final in-season test at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.

    The young German set a best time of 1:11.005, 0.187s clear of Force India’s Esteban Ocon who’s best time was 1:11.192.

    The session got off to a very wet start on Tuesday morning with just Ferrari Academy driver Antonio Fuoco and McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne heading out for installation laps on full wets. The track remained quiet for the rest of the morning. The session was red-flagged 30mins in due to the heavy rains that showed no sign of letting up.

    There was much deliberation between the teams to cancel running for the day and extend the test for an extra day to Thursday. It was eventually decided, as the rain started to ease up, that Monday’s running should be extended by 2 hours.

    Cars started firing up and heading out after the lunch break. First on full wets and then on intermediates as the track quickly dried up. Not long after that it was time for dry weather tyres and we were able to see more cars on the track.

    Finishing 3rd fastest for the day was Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen. He set a best time of 1:11.328 clocking up 97 laps, the most from all the drivers on the day.

    Ferrari Academy driver Antonio Fuoco’s fastest time was 1:11.331 which was 0.326s off Wehrlein’s pace. He’s lap time steadily climbed all afternoon but a slight mistake into Turn 1 saw him spin off the track and hit the wall damaging the front end of the SF15-T. “I am very angry with myself for making a mistake today,” commented Fuoco. “But getting behind the wheel of a Ferrari has always been my dream and today it finally came true. All the same, I am pleased with the work I was able to do, gathering useful data for the team, even if the rain affected our programme today.”

    GP2 driver Stoffel Vandoorne ended his day for McLaren 8th fastest 1.525s off the pace with a fastest time of 1:12.530 and managed to rack up 76 laps for the dayLotus’ Romain Grosjean ended his day 5th fastest ahead of Red Bull’s Peirre Gasly. Another Ferrari Academy driver Raffaele Marciello was in the driving seat at Sauber. He racked up 53 laps for the Swiss based team with his fastest time of the day of 1:11.826.

    Williams test driver Susie Wolff was 9th fastest for Williams with a best time for her of 1:13.248. Wolff says that her runs in the dry were mainly for aerodynamic evaluations and preparation work for Silverstone. The Williams did emerge from the pits with interesting looking winglets ahead of the rear wheels which, if deemed legal, could provide the team with a really big advantage come Silverstone.

    Force India were trailing parts for their B-spec car which they hope to run in Silverstone. Deputy Team Principal Robert Fernley says that the team hopes to have two complete B-spec cars ready for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. At the moment, he says they are on track to meet their deadline.

    Wednesday’s driver line up:

    Mercedes Nico Rosberg
    Ferrari Esteban Gutierrez
    Williams Valtteri Bottas
    Red Bull  Daniel Ricciardo
    Force India Pascal Wehrlein
    Lotus Jolyon Palmer
    Sauber Felipe Nasr
    Toro Rosso  Marco Wittmann
    McLaren Fernando Alonso

     

    Below is the unofficial timing sheet for Day 1 of the Austrian in-season test.

    Pos
    Driver
    Team
    Laps
    Time
    		 Gap
    1
    Pascal Wehrlein
    Mercedes
    67
    1:11.005

    –
    2
    Esteban Ocon
    Force India
    76
    1:11.192
    		 +0.178
    3
    Max Verstappen
    Toro Rosso
    97
    1:11.328
    		 +0.323
    4
    Antonio Fuoco
    Ferrari
    71
    1:11.331
    		 +0.326
    5
    Romain Grosjean
    Lotus
    45
    1:11.509
    		 +0.504
    6
    Pierre Gasly
    Red Bull
    80
    1:11.757
    		 +0.752
    7
    Raffaele Marciello
    Sauber
    53
    1:11.826
    		 +0.821
    8
    Stoffel Vandoorne
    McLaren
    76
    1:12.530
    		 +1.525
    9
    Susie Wolff
    Williams
    39
    1:13.248
    		 +2.243
  • 2015 In-Season Barcelona Test Line Up

    2015 In-Season Barcelona Test Line Up

    The first in season test for 2015 will be held at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona from the 12th – 13th May 2015.

    Most of the teams have already confirmed their driver line up for the test apart from Manor, who will not be participating in the test.

    Below is the line up for both days for the Barcelona test

    Mercedes
    Tuesday: Nico Rosberg
    Wednesday: Pascal Wehrlein

    Ferrari
    Tuesday: Raffaele Marciello
    Wednesday: Esteban Gutierrez

    Red Bull
    Tuesday: Daniil Kvyat
    Wednesday: Pierre Gasly

    Williams
    Tuesday: Felipe Massa
    Wednesday: Alex Lynn

    McLaren
    Tuesday: Oliver Turvey
    Wednesday: Jenson Button

    Lotus
    Tuesday: Pastor Maldonado
    Wednesday: Jolyon Palmer

    Force India
    Tuesday: Pascal Wehrlein Nick Yelloly
    Wednesday: Esteban Ocon

    Toro Rosso
    Tuesday: Pierre Gasly
    Wednesday: Carlos Sainz Jr

    Sauber
    Tuesday: Marcus Ericsson
    Wednesday: Raffaele Marciello

     

     

  • Maldonado On Top of Time Sheets on Day 3 of Barcelona Test

    Maldonado On Top of Time Sheets on Day 3 of Barcelona Test

    Lotus’ Pastor Maldonado claimed the fastest time of the day on the 3rd day of the Barcelona test on the super soft tyres.

    Maldonado’s run in the afternoon seen him cross the line with a 1:24.348, 0.391s ahead of Max Verstappen in the Toro Rosso who also did a run on the super softs. “We achieved a lot today and it was great to complete so many laps and end the day as the fastest car,” said Maldonado.

    Although the rain started to fall later in the day the drivers still managed to put in a respectable amount of laps one the rain had stopped.

    The redesigned seal that was intended to fix McLaren’s MGU-K issue did not work as planned. This mean that Button had to run the day on reduced power completing only 24 laps for the day.

    Defending World Champion, Lewis Hamilton took third spot of the day ahead of Marcus Ericsson in the Sauber. Hamilton still battling an illness said it was very tough day for him physically. That didnt seem to affect his pace too much though and he completed a marathon 101 laps.

    After an out lap spin that put him into the gravel trap, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel completed the day with 105 laps with the 5th fastest time of 1:26.407 which was just marginally faster than Daniil Kvyat in the Red Bull. Apart from the out lap incident. Vettel enjoyed a relatively trouble free day out on track.

    Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas both drive for Williams on the day which seen Massa finishe 7th fastest and Bottas 9th fastest.

    Mercedes test driver Pascal Wehrlein was back at Force India today. He completed 81 laps with the fastest time for him on the day of 1:27.333 in the 2014 VJM07.

    2nd pre season test day 3

  • Maldonado Puts Lotus on Top of the Time Sheets for Day one of Second Test

    Maldonado Puts Lotus on Top of the Time Sheets for Day one of Second Test

    Lotus’ Pastor Maldonado finished the first day of the second winter test ahead of the pack after running with the soft compound tyre.

    Maldonado’s time of 1:25.011 was 0.156s faster than Kimi Raikkonen in the Ferrari who held the top spot for most of the day. Although he set the fastest time, it was not a trouble free day for the Venezualan. He stopped twice on track in the morning sessions with sensor issues. Nevertheless a very good day for Lotus.

    Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen enjoyed a good run of 74 laps for the day. Holding the top spot for most of the day is very encouraging for Ferrari at the moment with his and Maldonado’s fastest times are faster than Lewis Hamilton’s pole setting time for the Spanish Grand Prix last year.

    Ricciardo finished the day in 3rd for Red Bull with Force India’s Sergio Perez finishing the day in 4th. The Mexican was not scheduled to drive today but was called up when Lewis Hamilton took ill after completing a few laps in the morning. Which meant that the Mercedes reserve driver Pascal Wehrlein who was driving for Force India today, had to swap the Force India overalls for the Mercedes ones to take Hamilton’s place. Wehrlein managed 8th for Force India and 9th for Mercedes.

    Felipe Nasr showed strong pace in the morning session for Sauber completing 79 laps. He ended the day in 5th. Max Verstappen ended the day in 6th with 94 laps on the board, the highest lap count for the day.

    Jenson Button’s day came to an early end after and MGU-K failure. The word from McLaren is that they will need to redesign the MGU-K component and that the engine would need to be replaced until the MGU-K was redesigned. There was no guarantee from Honda that the problem may not occur again. Fernando Alonso, who was scheduled to drive on Saturday and Sunday will be in the car tomorrow to prevent Button from having his day affected by the problem.

    Susie Wolff ended her day in 10th ahead for Williams ahead of Lewis Hamilton in 11th. Wolff collided with Sauber’s Felipe Nasr on track in the afternoon session. The contact between the two resulted in Nasr ending up in the T5 barriers with Wolff coming to a stop in the gravel. At the time Wolff was on an out-lap while Nasr was supposedly on a timed lap. Both drivers blame each other for the incident.

    After Hamilton took ill, news emerged that Nico Rosberg had an inflamed nerve in his neck and will have to rest until the swelling subsides. It looks as though Wehrlein will be driving the Mercedes for a bit longer.

    Below are the unofficial times for Day 1 of the second pre-season test

    2nd pre season test day 1

  • McLaren Gets The Go-Ahead to Debut Interim Development Car

    McLaren Gets The Go-Ahead to Debut Interim Development Car

    The McLaren Formula 1 team have been given the go-ahead to debut their McLaren-Honda MP4-29H/1X1 at the Abu Dhabi test that starts tomorrow.

    The team have already run the development car at a filming day at Silvertone last week to check the installation of the power unit together with other systems in the car. The feedback from the team and Honda seems positive and they’re both confident that they will be able to do more runs at the Abu Dhabi test.

    Speaking to F1.com, McLaren team principal has this to say: “On Tuesday and Wednesday, here in Abu Dhabi, we’ll be testing our hybrid McLaren-Honda MP4-29H/1X1 for the first time.”

    “It’s an exciting time for both McLaren and Honda, and for all who sail and will sail in the good ship McLaren-Honda. Ahead of us are many weeks of hard graft, but you may be well sure we’re up for the task.”

    McLaren’s rookie test driver, Stoffel Vanddorne, will be at the wheel of the new car for both the testing days.

     

    Here’s how the other teams will line up for the test:

    Mercedes: Nico Rosberg/Pascal Wehrlein

    Red Bull: Carlos Saintz Jr/ Daniel Ricciardo

    Ferrari: Kimi Raikkonen/Raffaele Marciello

    Williams: Valtteri Bottas/Felipe Nasr

    McLaren: Stoffel Vandoorne

    Lotus: Esteban Ocon/Charles Pic

    Force India: Jolyon Palmer/Spike Goddard

    Toro Rosso: Max Verstappen

    Sauber: Marcus Ericsson

    Caterham: Will Stevens

  • Mercedes confirms Pascal Wehrlein as reserve driver

    Mercedes confirms Pascal Wehrlein as reserve driver

    The Mercedes team have confirmed 19-year-old Pascal Wehrlein as their official reserve driver.

    Wehrlein seems to have the resume of a real up and coming Formula One star – even at such a young age. He finished 2nd in the Formula 3 European Championship in 2012 and has been competing in DTM since the start of 2013. He claimed his first Formula 3 win at the Lausitzring on Sunday.

    We may not all have noticed him, but Wehrlein has been seen quite a bit in the F1 paddock so far this season. He’s even completed over 30 days of work in Mercedes’ simulator.

    Wehrlein also received his first taste of F1 action in Portugal last week when he tested the Mercedes W03 at the Portimao circuit.

    “I was delighted when I learned that I would be completing a Formula One test for Mercedes in Portimao,” he said.

    “It took me a few laps to get used to the incredible speed, the very hard brakes and the high cornering speeds – it’s in another league compared to the DTM,” he said. “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!

    “The test was simply the greatest experience I have had so far in motorsport. There weren’t any nerves, which surprised me – I just felt ready for it. The feedback from the team and from Toto [Wolff] was very encouraging and I think that I did a good job. It certainly helped that I have been working hard in the simulator since February. For me, it is a nice recognition of my efforts that I have been nominated as reserve driver for Mercedes.

    “For me, it’s a dream come true to have completed this test and now to take on my new role. All my life, I have worked hard to get the opportunity to drive an F1 car. And it was always my goal to do it with Mercedes-Benz.”

    Pascal Wehrlein Photo Credit: Mercedes AMG Petronas