Wehrlein: Haryanto collision in German GP just racing

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Pascal Wehrlein says he has no problem with team-mate Rio Haryanto’s attempt to overtake him which resulted in contact in the German Grand Prix.

Attacking the lead Manor early in the race, Haryanto made an attempt to pass on the inside of Turn 6 from a long way back but Wehrlein turned in and the Indonesian driver hit the right rear of his team-mate’s car. Asked about the incident after finishing in 17th place, Wehrlein said he was unconcerned as it didn’t impact on the rest of his race.

“Nothing happened, I turned in, he touched my wheel I think and that’s it,” Wehrlein said. “I think it wasn’t on purpose, so… As long as nothing happens I’m OK with that. For sure it could have gone wrong and then it’s a different story but nothing happened to my car, I had a damaged front wing as well, but it’s racing.”

Haryanto suffered front wing damage in the incident which dropped him back in the fight against the Saubers and he says the collision could have been much worse had he not tried to take avoiding action.

Asked what happened, Haryanto replied: “Well I saw that he was struggling in the beginning of the race and I thought I was coming quicker so I decided to make a move into Turn 6.

“I had DRS on and when I went to the inside suddenly I saw he was turning into Turn 6 and I had nowhere to go. I had to really slow down the car to avoid the accident and unfortunately I just clipped my front wing on his right rear tyre.

“I think we would have been much higher up for sure. Perhaps I would have been in the mix again with Pascal until the end of the race. With the front wing I would say it cost quite a lot of time and with the strategy as well I had to stop quite early and that compromised not just the front wing change but also the next few stints.”

However, Haryanto would not be drawn on who he felt was to blame for the contact.

“I think I was on the inside and I don’t know if Pascal saw me on the inside of him. He turned and I didn’t want to take him out so I decided to brake as hard as I could and of course when you do that you will lock up the front wheel and unfortunately I clipped my front wing against his right rear tyre.”

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.