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Pascal Wehrlein says his chances of moving onto the F1 grid next year at still 50-50. Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team boss, has previously mentioned the 50-50 likelihood as he negotiates with Manor for a race seat for the new DTM champion.
But competition for the seats is high, with Will Stevens and Alexander Rossi both bringing funding to the British backmarker in 2015, and now the Indonesian government promising EUR 15 million if Rio Haryanto makes his debut next year.
Asked about his chances, 2015 Mercedes reserve Wehrlein told Germany's Sport1: "I hope so, of course. So far, nothing is certain. Formula one, DTM or possibly GP2 are currently the best options. It could also be a re-run of this year when I combined DTM and F1. My wish of course is to be a regular driver in formula one, but currently it is as Toto Wolff has said: 50-50."
However, Wolff warned recently that if Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg continue to constantly bicker, Mercedes may need to change the lineup of its works F1 team. "I'm really not thinking about that," Wehrlein insisted. "My goal is to get to formula one and gain experience -- probably firstly in a customer team. But one day I do want to drive for Mercedes," he added. (GMM)
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Login to replykhasmir
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Merc will never want to have two German drivers, it would be bad for marketing.
So for Wehrlein to get a seat, Rosberg will have to go. But considering his recent behaviour, it might be better to let Hamilton go.
But that will probably not happen for next year, so it will be do or die time for Rosberg to finally get that championship. If that fails, he might be better off to then go elsewhere if Hamilton is staying at Merc for 2017.