Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsManor

Merhi ends Formula Renault 3.5 campaign

Manor F1 Racing driver Roberto Merhi has decided to end his involvement in Formula Renault 3.5 for the rest of 2015.

Merhi had been competing in the series as and when his Formula One commitments allowed. His last outing with the PONS Racing team was at the Red Bull Ring in Austria at the start of July.

A statement from the team said that Merhi had "decided to stop his Formula Renault 3.5 program due to the clashing commitments in the Formula One world championship."

Merhi had been participating in the series since the start of the 2014 season, and had amassed 25 race starts to his credit including three wins last year at Moscow Raceway, the Nurburgring and the Hungaroring.

This season, Merhi's F1 schedule meant that the 24-year-old Spaniard had already been forced to sit out rounds at Monaco and Silverstone, where his place was taken by Alex Fontana and Will Bratt respectively.

With this week's announcement, GP2 driver René Binder will now take over the race seat for the rest of the year, beginning with this weekend's races at the Nurburgring followed by the final two rounds of the season at Le Mans and Jerez. Only Le Mans has a direct clash with a Formula One event, the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.

"For Pons Racing, having the chance to count on Binder is a privilege, no doubt on that," said team manager Emilio de Villota. "René has been racing in the GP2 Series for the last three and a half years and I think he'll provide us with the experience we need to continue our progression.

"I can't wait to work with him at a challenging track like the Nurburgring this weekend."

Binder will be part of an all-new driver line-up for PONS this weekend, with Japanese racer Yu Kanamaru having already been announced in place of Philo Paz Patric Armand.

It means that Merhi's time in Formula Renault 3.5 will end on a somewhat ignominious note, as he was excluded from the races in Austria after causing an accident with Nicolas Latifi by slowing abruptly as he crossed the finish line.

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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.