Wehrlein achieves the feat and gives Manor its first point!
In a wild finish to the race, Pascal Wehrlein took advantage of Sergio Pérez's accident to give Manor an unexpected first point. The German driver rounded off an exceptional weekend in every respect.
After getting out of his single-seater after the race, the very young Pascal Wehrlein was ecstatic. Indeed, the German has just achieved the feat of finishing in 10th place, thus offering the first point of the season to his team, Manor, which is more accustomed to the back of the grid than the Top 10.
An indescribable feeling of joy then overwhelmed the young Mercedes protégé, aware of the feat accomplished: “It’s incredible, I’m so happy. It was an amazing weekend, and to finish it this way is a tremendous reward for everyone,” he expressed after the race.
Qualified in 12th position, Wehrlein had a serious race, without error, to ultimately claim the 10th place point after Sergio Pérez went off track in the last lap: « We were a little bit unlucky with our strategy because of the safety car. I had just pitted, and after my second stop, I was last. It wasn’t really great, but we did our best with what we had, namely the soft tires, and we ran them for the last 40 laps. Finishing in the points from that position, running half the race on the same set of tires is really an incredible achievement! » stated the Manor driver.
A point that brings a lot of satisfaction to his team and demonstrates the real progress made by Manor: « This shows that we have made real progress. It’s a step-by-step process that may not necessarily be visible to people outside the team, but today is a great day and a beautiful reward for everyone. »
