Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsManor

Stevens hopes to sort Manor future quickly

Will Stevens says he hopes to sort his future with Manor as quickly as possible and believes the team will take "a massive step forward" in 2016.

With Manor exiting administration at the start of this season, Stevens was confirmed as one of the team's race drivers for 2015 in February. With a contract for the season, Stevens has enjoyed a solid first full year in F1 so far, though team-mate Roberto Merhi has got the better of him in recent races.

Asked when he will turn his attentions to securing a seat for 2016, Stevens told F1i: "That's already started.

"We're in a good position with these guys for next year. Obviously as a driver you want to get up the grid as far as possible and who knows where we're going to be?

"As I've said all along, I wanted to prove I was ready for F1 this year and I'd like to think I'm doing that. My pace is always strong and we're always getting solid results, so hopefully we can progress. Where I'll be, at the moment I don't know, but obviously as a driver you want to work that out as quickly as possible.

"So we're doing a lot of work behind the scenes and hopefully we can be in a position to finalise something shortly."

And Stevens says Manor is an attractive proposition as he expects the team to be much more competitive next season.

"In terms of first choices it's hard to have one. At the end of the day, you need to look at everything and you want to get as far up the grid as possible. These guys have got a bright future, considering next year we're going to be in a brand new car and I know the development of that car has been pretty good.

"So I'm sure these guys are going to take a massive step forward and it's exciting to be part of that journey and it's nice to have been on that since they came back. So being here is a very good option for me for next year and it's a nice project to be part of. Especially as well when I've built up good relationships here and that's something that is nice to take in to your second year."

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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.