Manor F1 gives 1st seat to German driver Wehrlein

Pascal Wehrlein of Germany. (Manu Fernandez/AP)

BANBURY, England — Manor Racing has selected German driver Pascal Wehrlein for the Formula One season, which starts next month at the Australian Grand Prix.

The 21-year-old Wehrlein is keen to fulfil his promise after impressing in testing as a reserve driver with Mercedes, behind the dominant pair of world champion Lewis Hamilton and runner-up Nico Rosberg.

The team said in a statement on Wednesday that Wehrlein will try out Manor’s MRTO5 car at pre-season testing in Barcelona later this month and again in early March.

Wehrlein, the reigning champion in the German Touring Car racing category, said "it will be a tough challenge but I think we should be able to challenge for points."

Manor has yet to name its second driver, likely to be American Alexander Rossi or Indonesian Rio Haryanto.

When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.