Pascal Wehrlein was a last minute call-up for the Mercedes AMG PETRONAS team for the second and final day of the post-Spanish Grand Prix test at the Circuit de Catalunya, but the German driver was delighted with his experience.
After requiring an experienced driver to continue the testing programme that was not completed with Nico Rosberg on day one in Spain, Wehrlein was called up to replace Esteban Ocon on Wednesday, and ran a day-high 133 laps, finishing third fastest.
Wehrlein, who races in 2016 for Manor Racing following a move across from the DTM Series, admitted he enjoyed his day’s work at the Circuit de Catalunya, with a best time of 1m24.145s, 0.878s slower than pacesetter Max Verstappen.
“That was a good day. A bit unexpected!” revealed Wehrlein. “The team called me yesterday evening as they couldn’t finish their test programme and needed an experienced driver to finish it off, so I came back to the track to do a seat fitting that night!
“We did 133 laps today – two race distances – and finished the test programme, which was important for the team. We tried a few different set-ups during the morning – mainly looking at aerodynamic with the aero rig.
“Then we did some long runs in the afternoon, so a good programme. I must say I really enjoyed the car – it felt amazing!”
