Wehrlein defends Haryanto after ousting

Aug.29 - Pascal Wehrlein has defended his ousted Manor teammate Rio Haryanto.

Throughout the Indonesian's half season with the backmarker team, many branded Haryanto a mere 'pay driver' and said his replacement Esteban Ocon was a clear step forward for Manor's 2016 lineup.

Referring to qualifying at Spa - Ocon's first race - German Wehrlein is quoted by Tuttosport: "Esteban is a great talent and it was nice to be half a second ahead of him.

"Maybe now you will understand that Rio was actually a good driver who was doing a good job. I am convinced that if he had driven here in qualifying he would have been in Q2," he added.

"I think he was very underrated and so I'm a bit sad because he was a good friend who did a great job," said Wehrlein.

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Leopold

Leopold Pleijsier founded F1-Fansite.com in 2001 and has followed Formula 1 since the early 1980s. He writes about daily F1 news, race weekends, drivers and the sport’s history.

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