Manor rookie Pascal Wehrlein has revealed that he came within half a second of taking a penalty for being temporarily on the wrong grid slot at the Austrian Grand Prix.
Having qualified a superb 12th, the German was caught out by Felipe Massa starting from the pit lane with the Brazilian supposed to line up 10th ahead of him. Instead of leaving Massa's spot empty, Wehrlein drew alongside Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel only to realise his mistake.
“I knew Massa was out but I didn’t see him when we started the formation lap,” the 2015 DTM champion said.
“It’s strange it happened, it was the first time there has been an empty box in front of me, so of course you… I didn’t think about it, I went behind the next guy, stopped and then I realised there was a red car in front of me.
“I put in reverse gear and managed to stop the car before the first light went on. Half a second later I would have got a penalty.”
Asked whether he felt nervous about being sanctioned, Wehrlein added that he was more anxious to retreat to his rightful position before the races got under way.
“I saw the lights, I reversed, stopped and saw the lights. Half a second later… then you have so many buttons and engine modes to put in, then I needed to find reverse gear. I was like a DJ on my steering wheel.”
Following his early scare, Wehrlein went on to deliver a stunning performance to secure 10th and score his maiden championship point, also the first for Manor - formerly known as Marussia - since the late Jules Bianchi's ninth-place finish at the 2014 Monaco Grand Prix.
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