Stevens boosted by late improvement in form

Will Stevens believes his late improvement in form was well-timed when it comes to trying to retain his seat at Manor in 2016.

Having got the better of team-mate Roberto Merhi on the whole in 2015, Stevens had seen the gap between the two closing before Alexander Rossi replaced the Spaniard for five of the final seven races. Rossi went on to beat Stevens in three of the races both cars finished, but Stevens hit back in their final race as team-mates in Brazil before comfortably beating Merhi in Abu Dhabi.

With his future still to be confirmed and Manor yet to announce either of its drivers for 2016, Stevens says his upturn in form will be beneficial to his hopes.

“Obviously I need to keep doing a good job for the team and I believe that I have done a good job this year,” Stevens told F1i. “My pace has always been strong. In the middle of the season I probably focused too much on qualifying and now I’ve changed that philosophy the last few races were really strong for me.

“It came at a nice time. Obviously we’ve been in heavy talks with the team for next year and hopefully those races have proved that I’ve learned a lot this year and I’m ready to step up for next year. It’s a massive year for the team, with 11 teams next year it’s really important that we start the season well.”

And Stevens believes his own personal improvement in the final races of the year showed Manor he is ready to get the most out of a car capable of challenging for the top ten.

“With the Mercedes power unit for next year and hopefully an exciting car coming along we should hopefully be in a good position to fight for points and have good races. So I feel good, I feel like I’m ready to help the team along and hopefully soon those talks will get finalised and we can start to focus on next year.”

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