Manor Racing's Rio Haryanto has initiated an original support campaign in Indonesia involving a scheme where fans can fund the young hopeful's season through text messages.
In a nutshell, several telecommunication companies in Indonesia have encouraged users to text the word 'Rio' to a specific number, with a small cost going directly towards funding of Haryanto's F1 efforts with Manor.
The campaign promoters are apparently targeting 12.4 million text messages by mid-July. It's worth reminding that Indonesia's population amounts to 250 milliom people, so the target seems reasonable.
While the scheme is interesting, the more important take-away is perhaps the fact that Haryanto's seat with Manor may only be secure up to mid-July, or to the British Grand Prix.
Should he fail to bring in the required funding, his F1 seat could be in jeopardy.
The 23-year-old Indonesian is on a steep learning curve this season with Manor. The British outfit has upped its performance level thanks to its Mercedes power unit, but Haryanto still appears to be at a lengthy distance in terms of speed from his talented team mate, and Mercedes protégé, Pascal Wehrlein.
REPORT: Rosberg cruises home ahead of chaos in China
Chinese Grand Prix lap-by-lap as it happened
Eric Silbermann has breakfast with photographer Crispin Thruston
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
Nearly two decades after its last high-speed venture in Formula 1, American computing giant Intel…
Max Verstappen’s Nürburgring 24 Hours debut is already delivering the kind of storyline only he…
Audi’s 2026 Formula 1 project is already under the microscope, but racing director Allan McNish…
Max Verstappen will launch his long-awaited Nürburgring 24 Hours debut from the second row of…
Cadillac F1’s arrival on the grid in 2026 has been anything but quiet, and according…
Alpine has strengthened its growing 2026 Formula 1 project by officially welcoming former FIA head…