Wehrlein happy with 2016 performance so far

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Manor Racing Team's Pascal Wehrlein says that he's happy with how he's fared in his first 12 Grand Prix outings to date, and especially with the championship point he earned for the team in Austria.

"The initial aim was to score at least one point this season and we already have," he pointed out. "Thanks to that we are tenth in the standings in front of Sauber, and I don't think we could have expected much better

"The Austrian Grand Prix was a great moment," the 21-year-old German told French motorsports magazine French magazine Auto Hebdo this week, adding that he was targeting more such success in the remaining races of the season.

"Seize the opportunity when it presents itself, that is what we must continue to do."

Arguably Wehrlein's one relative weakness appears to be in qualifying, where he's been out-performed by his team mate Rio Haryanto on five occasions in the first 12 weekends of the season, but Wehrlein said that this wasn't a major concern for him at this stage of his career.

"Qualifying is one thing and the race another. Regarding the latter, it's 11-1 in my favor, with a tenth place in Austria. You don't score points on Saturday afternoon."

Haryanto's place in the team is believed to be under threat unless he can find more sponsorship money, with 2016 Indianapolis 500 champion Alexander Rossi revealing this week he's turned down an offer to return to Manor and replace Haryanto for the remainder of the season because of his IndyCar commitments.

Wehrlein is in a somewhat more secure position thanks to his backing from the Mercedes marque, but that still doesn't mean that his tenure at Manor - or elsewhere in Formula One - will necessarily extend beyond 2016.

"No idea. I have a year of contract and I am waiting for the moment," he said. "Nothing is ever perfect for a first season, but Austria speaks for me and the second part of the season will allow me to take a new course. I'm not worried."

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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.