Pascal Wehrlein

One of the few drivers to make the move up to Formula 1 after a spell out of single-seaters, Pascal Wehrlein has a very bright future ahead of him…

Wehrlein started karting competitively at the age of nine, working his way up to the KF2 category by 2009 before then moving into single-seaters for the 2010 season at the age of 15.

Wehrlein spent two years in the ADAC Formel Masters in his native Germany, taking nine wins - eight of which came in his title-winning sophomore season - with a step up to Formula 3 following in 2012.

An impressive year saw Wehrlein finish second in the F3 Euro Series standings, as well as finish fourth in the Macau Grand Prix, doing enough to spark interest from Mercedes for a seat in DTM with Mücke Motorsport for the 2013 season.

At just 18, Wehrlein was one of the youngest drivers on the grid, yet he was able to still fight well and prove himself quickly to be more than ready for a shot in the German touring car series. A breakthrough win came in 2014 with HWA, while Wehrlein also enjoyed his first F1 test that year after being named Mercedes’ official reserve driver.

Wehrlein was able to continue his rise through 2015 by taking two race wins en route to the DTM title, becoming the youngest champion in the series’ history. Unsurprisingly, the next step was F1, with Mercedes striking a deal for backmarker squad Manor to field Wehrlein for 2016.

Wehrlein quickly made a good impression at Manor, immediately outpacing team-mate Rio Haryanto despite having been out of single-seaters full-time for three years. Wehrlein led Manor to a surprise point in Austria, just the third in the team’s history, after an excellent display, but he could only finish as high as P14 through the remainder of the season. Following Nico Rosberg’s shock decision to retire from F1, Wehrlein was linked with a move up to Mercedes’ works team for 2017, only for Valtteri Bottas to get the call-up. Continuing his development further down the grid, Wehrlein was slotted in at Sauber alongside Marcus Ericsson for 2017, when he will look to push the team forward and stake a claim for a Mercedes seat further down the line.

Prior to the 2017 Season, Pascal competed in the Race Of Champions which ended in disaster when an incident after a shootout with Felipe Massa resulted the German coming out injured with an back injury. He was forced to miss out on the first Barcelona test with his new team, with Antonio Giovinazzi replacing him. He made a return for the second test but heading into the first race in Australia, Wehrlein withdrew after competing in the two Friday practice sessions. Giovinazzi filled in once again for the German for the race and again for China.

Wehrlein made a full return to F1 in Bahrain, finishing outside of the points with 11th place. He scored the team's first points of the season with an incredible drive at the Spanish Grand Prix, making a one-stop strategy work. He initially finished the race in seventh place, cleverly using the Virtual Safety Car to his advantage but was given a five-second penalty for failing to keep right of the pit entry bollard, dropping him to eighth place.

The following race at Monaco saw Wehrlein have a nasty accident with Jenson Button as the pair collided, sending the Sauber up on its side and into the barrier. Wehrlein escaped the accident uninjured.

He returned into the points at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix with tenth place, finishing ahead of his teammate Marcus Ericsson. Wehrlein finished outside of the points for the rest of the season, as the uncompetitive Sauber and year old Ferrari, couldn't catch up with the development race of the other teams.

Wehrlein's points were Sauber's only from the 2017 season, which placed him in 18th place overall in the championship. Despite his efforts and with teammate Ericsson failing to score points, he lost his seat for the 2018 season having been replaced by FIA Formula 2 champion Charles Leclerc.

Having failed to find a seat in F1 for 2018, Wehrlein returned back to DTM with Mercedes. He still retains his relationship with the Mercedes F1 team as their reserve driver for the season.