Booth hints at extended Manor stay for Merhi

Manor team principal John Booth admits Roberto Merhi's recent performances could see him retain his seat for the full season.

Merhi was named as Manor's second driver just ahead of the opening race of the year in Australia, joining Will Stevens who has a contract for the 2015 season. While Merhi's deal was a short-term one, he has been improving after being comfortably beaten by Stevens in the early rounds and Booth told F1i he's pleased with the progress he is seeing.

"[Merhi] seems to be getting to grips with it at last, doesn't he?" Booth said. "He's set himself a bit of a task with World Series at the same time, so he doesn't make life easy for himself, but he was right on it [in Austria]."

When it was suggested Fabio Leimer's arrival as reserve driver had acted as a kick up the backside for Merhi, Booth replied: "Drivers minds, who can tell? It could be!

"But I think he's started to understand the car more as well. He was probably using a different driving style to what was required and being too hard on his rear tyres, but he's worked with his performance engineer and adapted his style accordingly."

Asked if Merhi's performances make it more likely Manor will retain the same driver pairing for the full season, Booth admitted: "That's a tough one!

"I'm very happy with the job they're both doing. I'm on record as saying we've not given them an easy time with no pre-season testing and have thrown them straight in the deep end with a car that wasn't easy to drive at the start of the year.

"It's getting better now. Incredibly we're closing the gap without spending a great deal of money, which is incredible. They've both done a great job, they really have. They work well together as well, for two drivers who are so closely matched they really do work well together on the set-ups and things."

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