Pascal Wehrlein takes Manor back to Q2
Pascal Wehrlein was one of the day's outstanding performers, finishing 12th in qualifying. It was the best qualifying in Manor's history.
For a race that is almost a home event for the German, Austria clearly smiled on Pascal Wehrlein, who finished 12th while conditions were still normal. To see Manor celebrating a similar achievement, you have to go back to Silverstone 2014 when Jules Bianchi also reached this position.
Above all, she arrived after being tenth at the end of Q1: My lap in Q1 was really good. It was a near-perfect qualifying. The strategy was excellent, we were always one of the first cars to go out, and everything went well in Q1, despite the red flag, then the yellow, which interrupted the flow.
The German then managed to have another very good lap in Q2: « In Q2, I did my lap during my first stint on super softs. We then switched to ultra softs but it started to rain and I couldn’t improve. It’s easy to say, but if it hadn’t rained, Q3 could have been possible today. »
However, he remains realistic and knows that tomorrow’s race is likely to be quite different due to the high degradation of his tires. But the rain could play the role of a surprise guest, which might help the small team.
On the other hand, Rio Haryanto was not able to complete a clean lap as he encountered traffic during his first two attempts, and the yellow flag at the end of the session forced him to back off. He therefore has to settle for 19th place, even though he thought he had the potential to emulate his teammate by also making it into Q2.
From our special correspondent in Spielberg
