Pascal Wehrlein is counting on a deal with Manor to secure him a seat on the 2016 grid, something Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff admits is a ‘possibility’.
The young German driver, who is currently competing in DTM and sits atop the championship standings with just one race remaining, has impressed during his Mercedes testing duties.
However with no seats available at Mercedes next season, his only chance of a race seat hangs on Manor – which recently announced an engine deal with the German manufacturer.
“It’s a bit of a tricky situation as we haven’t got a dedicated young driver programme,” said Wolff.
“We have Pascal, but his main focus is DTM and I don’t want to take him away from that focus. I’d rather like to see how DTM pans out.
“It’s [placing him at Manor] a possibility but it needs a lot of pieces of the jigsaw to come together and it could well not happen.”
Wolff is conscious that Manor’s survival could be depenedent on attracting pay drivers with big budgets and warned that Mercedes were unlikely to pay – or offer an engine discount – to the same level as what a pay driver might offer, therefore risking Wehrlein’s opportunity.
“The harsh financial reality is that Manor needs to refinance itself and raise the budget,” he explained.
“I’m not sure if we would be prepared to place a driver with budgets that they could probably raise in a driver market if we are supplying engines, because that is a more attractive offer for a young driver.”
