Pascal Wehrlein is looking for clarification from his current team and from his Mercedes-Benz boss about his future in Formula 1.
The current Sauber F1 Team racer looks set to leave the Swiss outfit in 2018, with Scuderia Ferrari looking to place Charles Leclerc in one of the seats, while current team-mate Marcus Ericsson looks increasingly likely to retain the other seat, despite the Swede having failed to score a point in over two years.
Wehrlein wants talks with Sauber boss Frederic Vasseur and with Toto Wolff, the Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport, who helps oversee the Mercedes-protégé’s career, to find out just where he will be racing in 2018.
“I’m planning to speak to Fred and Toto in the coming days,” said Wehrlein to Motorsport.com. “There was no news before the weekend but maybe there is some new information from this weekend, so let’s see.
“I spoke to [Vasseur] in Japan and he said it’s an option for me [to stay at Sauber]. I don’t know how much Ferrari is involved in that. It’s between the Ferrari drivers, Marcus and me.”
Wehrlein says Wolff has been talking to teams about 2018 rides, with Williams Martini Racing one of the places where a vacancy could open up, and although he acknowledges that it would be a step up should he go there, his immediate focus remains with Sauber.
“I think Toto is still talking to the team [Williams],” said Wehrlein. “He’s talking to everyone who could be an option, including Williams. Williams has a great car at the moment, they are fighting for P5 [in the constructors’] so it would be a big step for me.
“At the moment, I’m at Sauber and I’m thinking about Sauber and what we can do here in the next races.”
