Wehrlein’s 2017 Drives Were Ignored

Ousted F1 driver Pascal Wehrlein feels that his best race performances in 2017 were overlooked. He believes that he lost the opportunity to show other teams his true potential because Sauber lost a lot of ground. Wehrlein’s 2017 drives were all impressive as he scored all five of Sauber’s points. He finished in eighth place in Spain and 10th in Azerbaijan. Sadly, he lost his seat to Formula 2 champion Charles Leclerc for 2018. This was due to Sauber’s enhanced relationship with Ferrari and new Alfa Romeo tie-up.

Statistically, the Barcelona drive was the high point of 2017. However, Wehrlein felt that he truly shone in the second half of the season. Sauber’s declining form meant that the best he could do was 12th in Singapore. He ended the year with three consecutive 14th places.

Wehrlein said, “In terms of result, [Barcelona] was the best race of the year but probably in the second half of the season I had better races, but you couldn’t see it. Even if we had a good race in the second half of the season, you couldn’t see it because the gap was just too big – for example, in Suzuka, I was lapped by the second-last guys. I’m quite happy in the end with five points. Not all of the races have been good as I wished but I think in general we did what we could do.”

Apart from Sauber’s fading form, Wehrlein felt that his own form had declined. According to him, engine problems occurred from Austria to Monza. He also wasn’t happy with the car in Japan and Austin. Wehrlein was in the queue for the Williams seat until Sirotkion emerged as the favourite. The German has now been tipped for a return to the DTM with Mercedes next season.

The 23-year-old was confident that he could still return to F1 after 2018. He would have no issues racing elsewhere for a season. He was adamant that missing this one year would not end his F1 career.

Wehrlein has no regrets on his 2017 season and stated that he was still developing as an F1 driver. He said,”Definitely I was always giving my best, and I think that’s the most important thing that you can say about yourself. When an opportunity was there, we took it. With more experience you think ‘ah, one or two races ago I was doing this direction with the set-up, now I know this was worse I should have gone in this direction’, and you always learn something.”