Pascal Wehrlein felt it was special to make it through to the second segment of qualifying for the fifth time in 2016 as he looks to try and put the smile back onto the faces of his Manor Racing MRT team at the Yas Marina Circuit.
With the Sauber F1 Team having moved ahead of Manor in the Constructors’ Championship after scoring two points during the Brazilian Grand Prix through Felipe Nasr, Wehrlein showed that the team will not give up on reclaiming their tenth position this weekend, with the German delighted to have shown good pace during qualifying.
Although for Wehrlein it would be a ‘dream’ to score points in Abu Dhabi, the Mercedes-protégé is daring to believe that something positive can come from this weekend’s final race of the season.
“My fifth time in Q2 this year and that’s a really special way to finish in the last qualifying of the year,” said Wehrlein. “In Q2 I only had one set of Ultrasoft tyres so my second run was the limit and it wasn’t possible to improve any more.
“But I think we have to be happy with P16 and my thanks to the team because together we’ve done a really great job so far this weekend. I like the track but I don’t think it’s our best one, so we’re really pushing hard to end the season in a positive way.
“We’re in front of Sauber and our pace looks really strong, so you never know what might be possible and what might happen in front of us. I think we should dream big and push for points. Why not?
“Brazil was a tough day for us, so I would love to put the smile back on everyone’s faces.”
