Pascal Wehrlein has admitted that he has started talks to replace Nico Hülkenberg within the Sahara Force India line-up for 2017.
Hülkenberg made the move to the Renault Sport F1 team last week, and his fellow German Wehrlein has revealed that discussions have taken place to move to the team aiming for fourth place in this season’s Constructor’s Championship.
Wehrlein currently races for the Manor Racing outfit and is a protégé of Mercedes-Benz, and scored only his team’s second ever points finish with a tenth place finish in the Austrian Grand Prix in July, a result that puts the Banbury-based team ahead of the Sauber F1 Team in the Constructors’ Championship.
“Indeed, there’s a seat at Force India, and of course we’re in talks with them,” said Wehrlein to the German media this weekend. “We’ll see how it will unfold. At the moment, I’m focused on doing the best possible job for Manor. We want to end the season on a high.
“For me, it wasn’t a surprise that there would be an open seat at Force India. First there were rumours about Sergio [Perez], just after he had signed it focused on Nico. There’s no smoke without a fire.”
