Mercedes boss Toto Wolf believes that Pascal Wehrlein will be back in the Sauber next weekend for the Bahrain Grand Prix after sitting out a second consecutive weekend.
Wehrlein pulled out of the season opener in Melbourne due to his injury suffered in January at the Race of Champions. He was replaced by Italian Antonio Giovinazzi who also fills in this weekend in China.
Wehrlein is currently training with Mercedes as he is a junior driver for the Silver Arrows, and Wolff thinks that the German will be racing again at round three in Bahrain.
"It was a wise decision [to withdraw from the Australian race], which he had discussed with Monisha [Kaltenborn] and myself before," he told German broadcaster RTL.
"We accepted and respected this decision. At the beginning of this week we had the same discussion once again. We could have forced Pascal to be in China. He would have raced, he would have suffered the jetlag and he would have moved on to Bahrain. However, this wouldn't have been an ideal preparation.
"So we decided to give him 10 days of proper training instead to return him to the shape he needs to properly drive this car. Then he will come back in full force in Bahrain."
Fergal Walsh
Local time
Local time
Bahrain International Circuit - Winter testing
Replies (0)
Login to reply