Pascal Wehrlein had the misfortune to be the last finisher in the Japanese Grand Prix in a race that saw every driver be classified – the second year in succession this has happened at Suzuka.
The Manor Racing driver started twenty-first on the grid on Sunday, behind team-mate Esteban Ocon who had out-qualified the German for a second consecutive weekend, and then saw the Frenchman outperform him on race day as well, with Wehrlein finishing 19.860 seconds behind.
Wehrlein admitted it was a day of struggles in Japan, and although neither Manor driver were able to get ahead of any of their rivals, the German feels they are not far away from a breakthrough.
“It ended up being a really difficult race,” said Wehrlein. “We struggled with the pace, we struggled with the blue flags – struggled generally today. There isn’t much more to say than that.
“We’ve made some good steps and improved the car, so we just need to work with what we have to find more performance from the package and keep making that progress. We’re not far away, but that’s not where we want to be.”