Pascal Wehrlein ended the Malaysian Grand Prix in fifteenth position but admitted that the Manor Racing team did not have the pace to challenge those in front of them this weekend.
The Mercedes-Benz-protégé made a reasonable start to the race from the back of the grid to run fifteenth, but knew that his main battle was with his team-mate Esteban Ocon, which he came out on top of with a late race pass.
Wehrlein felt that he could have done nothing more at the Sepang International Circuit on Sunday, but the MRT05 didn’t have the pace for anything better than P15.
“I got a good start and was up to 15th from 21st quite quickly, so that was a lot of fun,” said Wehrlein. “Unfortunately, after that, we didn’t have the pace to fight as closely as we would we like and gradually we started to drop back.
“Realistically, I knew yesterday that it would be more of a battle between Esteban and me, which we had, and it was good.
“It was tough. Very hot in the cockpit and a nice warm drink to keep me going. But it was okay. I think we managed the tyres well; the track temperature was pretty high, but no real problems there. We just didn’t have the extra pace to push for something more today.”
