Pascal Wehrlein replaces Esteban Ocon for second day of testing

Mercedes has two young drivers under its wing and wants to prepare them as best as possible for the future. Thus, while Mercedes placed Pascal Wehrlein at Manor after his DTM title, Esteban Ocon has been placed at Renault as the third driver.

For the Barcelona tests, it was initially planned that the young Frenchman would spend the first day with Renault and the second with Mercedes. But at the last moment, Mercedes preferred to assign its seat to Pascal Wehrlein, who had himself spent the first day with Manor.

“In a change to our scheduled programming, @PWehrlein is at the wheel for #F1Testing Day 2. @OconEsteban will join the 2nd #F1 test in July.” — MERCEDES AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) 18 May 2016

If the reigning GP3 champion is certainly disappointed, he was nonetheless thrilled to have completed a full day of testing with Renault despite his Friday morning session being cut short by two successive issues: “It was fantastic to be behind the wheel of the R.S.16 for a full day. We had a fairly busy schedule but I wouldn’t mind doing it all over again! I covered the second highest number of laps today and I’m happy with how everything went. Of course, I would have liked to do some fast laps with low fuel and soft tires, but that wasn’t the goal of the day. The team is satisfied with the recorded data and I’m pleased to contribute to the development of the car.”

On the other hand, Esteban Ocon will return to Mercedes for the July tests, following the Silverstone Grand Prix.