20/07/2017
NEWS STORY
Despite scoring precious points for Manor in 2016 and Sauber this year, Pascal Wehrlein fears it may not be enough to move up the F1 grid anytime soon.
For reasons never fully explained the youngster was shunned by Force India in favour of Esteban Ocon, while it is understood he never even entered the equation when Mercedes was searching for a replacement for Nico Rosberg.
Consequently, the 2015 DTM champion soldiers on with Sauber, though the switch to Honda engines next season could see him edged out in favour of a driver chosen by the Japanese manufacturer.
Asked when he expects to get a competitive drive, he tells the official F1 website: "Hopefully soon. My target is to one day be in a team where I can win races, get on the podium regularly and fight for championships. Right now I don’t have these tools to make it happen.
"The weekends where we score points are very, very special for us," her continues, "because we don’t have the car to finish in the top ten often - only if the stars are in the right place!
"Then we have to take the opportunity and bag the points. I am very happy that when the chance was there I was able to grab it. I want to be there when it counts."
Asked if Bottas' recruitment to Mercedes causes him to fear this will compromise his own progress in that direction, he admits: "No, because I cannot influence such a decision, so worrying about things that you cannot influence is wasting your time and wasting your strength and efforts. Valtteri is doing a good job and he deserves it."
Asked about Honda's tie-up with Sauber in 2018, he says: "I have no idea what is happening next year. Of course, I have heard all the rumours, but the same answer goes for this as for the previous question: I cannot influence any of these things, so why worry about them?
"Whatever rumours there are in the air, it is no distraction for me, that is the bottom line. I have a contract for this season so I am only focusing on this year, and the rest is a bit like the Valtteri thing: I cannot influence anything.
"Decisions are made by others and I am only here to drive, to perform as well as I can. Of course I want to see Sauber do well. They have the potential and have already been in good positions in the past and I want them to get back there. How and when, that is on another page."
Asked to clarify that he is free for 218, he says: "At the moment, yes."
Are you on the ‘market’? "Yes, you could say so," he replies.
Asked about the recent happenings at Hinwil, and whether it has been a distraction, he admits: "First and foremost, the team wants to do better than we are doing now or did last season. So from now on we need ‘lucky races’.
"It is definitely a different situation now than it has been. The team wants to get back to where they were around five years ago. You can physically feel this desire in the team.
"I do have expectations of Fred, and the team," he continues, referring to the recent appointment of Fred Vasseur. "I don’t know how fast Fred can change things or how he can change them, but we now have one race left before the summer shut-down. In the second half of the season the team will focus on next year, so I don't think you will see his touch too much this year.
"So let's see what we can still do with the tools that we have right now. I really respect Fred. I used to work with him in DTM. He had a team when I drove there in 2015. He has so much experience in motorsport and in many other ventures outside racing. He is a very successful man. He could help Sauber. He could be very good for the team."
And how would he sum up his season to date?
"It is no secret that my start to the season was very difficult. The injury matter was pretty tough. Going to Australia and not driving was hard and having to skip China was another notch on the ‘horror scale’.
"The start to 2017 in Bahrain was not bad," he continues. "It felt like I had never been away, never been injured. The first qualifying took me to Q2 and I nearly finished in the points with P11, with the Sauber!
"Since then it is going smoothly and pretty much in the right direction. Twice I scored points, with the clear highlight of Barcelona, which was exceptional for us finishing in P7, even if with the penalty it was finally P8.
"But imagine: P7 with the Sauber! Yes there have been difficult races since then, but we knew that this would happen.
"For Budapest we are set for a big upgrade," he reveals. "Almost all the car - or all the aero side - will be new, so that should give us a good performance boost. If what the data shows really can materialize we could be on a good go."