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.
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