Pascal Wehrlein hopes Manor Racing can have a good Italian Grand Prix but does not know if the car will be suited to the Italian circuit, although the straights should mean a competitive weekend for the Banbury-based outfit.
“You never know how well a car is going to be suited to a track until you actually drive for the first time on Friday, but this is a high-speed track and the theory is that we can do well again here. That’s my goal, anyway.”
Wehrlein was pleased with his weekend at Spa-Francorchamps last weekend until race day, making it through to the second part of qualifying for only the second time, but retired on the opening lap following a clash with Jenson Button.
“The upside of that weekend was starting the race from the midfield, so that’s our biggest target achieved right there! And, we could have been even higher, as we saw with P9 in Q1. It was a ‘team’ target to close the gap to the midfield, but my own target, as a driver, to get us there. So I’m pretty happy with that. I’m also excited by the possibilities for the rest of the season if we can continue like this.”
The Mercedes-Benz-protégé is eager to keep the Sauber F1 Team behind them this season, and is pushing for the team to hopefully challenge Renault.
“Ours are small but very important steps. We’re ahead of Sauber and really pushing Renault, so my next target is to keep things that way and make the gap to the midfield even smaller. Of course, I’d like to see us get another point or two very soon. That would be nice.”
