Indonesia pushes for Rio Haryanto at Manor

Manor is in an ideal situation: the small team has the two last available seats for the 2016 season. Additionally, it will now be equipped with the Mercedes engine, which could translate into improved on-track performance.

She can therefore afford to raise the stakes among the various interested drivers. Currently, many serious candidates are in the running, namely Will Stevens, Roberto Merhi, Alexander Rossi, Pascal Wehrlein, Jordan King, and Rio Haryanto.

This latest one has a strong argument: it has been supported for many years by Pertamina, the oil company of Indonesia. The Minister of Youth and Sports of the archipelago has therefore written a letter to the team’s owner, Stephen Fitzpatrick, to let him know that his government was ready to pay 15 million euros for his protégé to participate in the 2016 season: « Following our discussions with Rio Haryanto and his management, we are pleased to confirm to you that the Ministry of Youth and Sports of the Republic of Indonesia will guarantee the payment of 15 million euros for Rio Haryanto to participate in the 2016 Formula 1 championship with Manor. »

This kind of approach is reminiscent of what PDVSA has been doing with Pastor Maldonado for years with Williams, and then Lotus. If the agreement is confirmed in the coming weeks, we can therefore imagine seeing the brand’s logo having significant space on the team’s cars. We can also imagine that references to his home country would also be present.

Faced with such a promised amount, his rivals will need to have very strong arguments to be able to claim a seat. And these arguments will certainly not be solely related to sports… His presence during the last Pirelli tests following the weekend in Abu Dhabi is thus just another sign of the ongoing discussions.

With the participation of www.racingbusiness.fr