Manor rookie Pascal Wehrlein was really pleased with how strong his first stint in the Australian Grand Prix went, but says he fell foul of the red flag in terms of strategy.
Making his Formula One debut in Melbourne, Wehrlein lined up a lowly 21st on the grid but the German quickly made significant progress through the field in the early stages of the race.
“I got a fantastic start and I was very happy to find myself in 15th place at the end of the opening lap,” the 2015 DTM champion said. “That first half of the race was really strong and I was pushing hard on the supersoft and then the soft. It was great to be as high as 13th at one point and to be racing with Sauber.”
Wehrlein had just rejoined the fray when Fernando Alonso clipped the rear of Esteban Gutierrez, which sent the McLaren into a series of scary rolls in the gravel trap ahead of Turn 3. For the Manor driver, the subsequent race neutralisation to clear the debris could not have been more ill-timed.
“Things turned for me after my first stop, which happened just before the red flag,” Wehrlein added. “Our plan was to have a short stint on the supersoft which meant we pitted for the soft not long before the crash, so that was a major setback because many of the other cars still hadn’t stopped. After that, everyone ahead started to pull away from me and because we were struggling with tyre degradation I couldn’t do anything about it.“
Having picked up a braking issue in the closing stages of the grand prix, the 21-year-old admits he switched his focus to bringing the car home.
“It’s great to finish my first race and thanks to the team for that. We’ve all learned a lot this weekend and everyone is working well together, so we’ve made a good start and now we have to push hard to improve.”
Rookie team-mate Rio Haryanto could not make it a two-car finish for Manor, as the Indonesian’ maiden grand prix ended early due to a driveline problem.
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AS IT HAPPENED: 2016 Australian Grand Prix
2016 F1 season: Team-by-team preview
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