Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsManor

Merhi to race for Manor in Spain before review

Manor team principal John Booth says Roberto Merhi will race for the team in the Spanish Grand Prix before it assesses its driver line-up.

While Will Stevens has signed for the full season with Manor, Merhi was named ahead of the Australian Grand Prix with a shorter deal which has so far taken in the first four races. Speaking exclusively to F1i, Booth reveals the Spaniard will be given the opportunity to take part in his home race before his seat is assessed.

"We can't interfere with [Merhi's] career, we've got to think what is best for him as well," Booth said. "So that's a difficult decision. It will be great to see him race at Barcelona at his home circuit. That will be great and then we'll have to decide what is best for him after that."

Merhi is scheduled to race in Formula Renault 3.5 this season, driving for Pons Racing with the first round taking place at Aragon this weekend.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.