Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMercedes

Mercedes issues blight Wehrlein call-up

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Mercedes was hit by fuel system issues on the opening day of testing as Pascal Wehrlein received a surprise call-up to the team.

Lewis Hamilton was due to drive on Thursday but withdrew after ten laps due to a fever, with Mercedes opting to put Wehrlein in the car despite the reserve driver already driving for Force India. However, a fuel system issue limited Wehrlein to just 48 laps despite having first gone out in the W05 before the lunch break.

Wehrlein admits the call-up was a surprise, but says he enjoyed the opportunity to drive two different cars on the same day even though Mercedes hit reliability trouble.

“For sure I was quite surprised in the morning when I got the information to drive the Mercedes but I think to drive two cars in one day was amazing and I was happy,” Wehrlein said. “The day was good, we had a few problems in the afternoon with the car and I lost a bit of time, so I only had three runs in the Mercedes which wasn't that much but the time I had I enjoyed, as well as the time in the Force India.”

Nico Rosberg is set to take over the W05 on Friday, with Wehrlein saying he believes a neck problem has subsided.

Full times and day one of the second test as it happened

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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.