Pascal Wehrlein, who has previously raced in Formula One for both Manor and Sauber, has been linked to make his Formula One return with Toro Rosso for the 2019 season. This announcement is due to take place at the next race in Sochi. If this is the case, New Zealander, Brendon Hartley will be shown the door after under-performing in his debuting season.
However, the pressure for Hartley to achieve so much was applied very early on in the season after his teammate, Pierre Gasly, managed to secure fourth place in Bahrain. Additionally, he has had many tricky races that were not his fault such as, his clash in Canada with Lance Stroll and his shunt with Charles Leclerc in Monaco after Leclerc's breaks failed. Despite this, he has still received huge criticism throughout the season.
If Hartley is to leave Formula One next season, he will be freeing up the second seat at Toro Rosso after his teammate, Pierre Gasly, received a promotion to the senior team, Red Bull. This coming after Daniel Ricciardo, current Red Bull driver, signed for Renault next season to partner Nico Hulkenburg. The most likely candidates to fill the vacant seats at Toro Rosso are Daniil Kvyat and Pascal Wehrlein.
Moreover, only a few days ago Wehrlein cut ties with Mercedes after being part of the Mercedes junior driver programme and even being a test driver in 2014-16 for the Mercedes F1 team. His contract with Mercedes expires at the end of this year however, both parties have decided not to extend the contract.
“My contract with Mercedes expires at the end of the 2018 season and we have jointly decided not to continue further together,” Wehrlein said.
This may actually open up some more paths for the young German, as many teams won't sign drivers with ties to other teams, as they believe they are readying rival teams' next big stars. Therefore terminating the Mercedes contract may be the best thing for him to try and return to Formula One.
“In his best interests, we have therefore decided together with Pascal not to extend our agreement and to give him the best chance of securing an opportunity elsewhere that his talent merits,” Mercedes on terminating Wehrlein's contract.
Toro Rosso are expected to announce their driver line-up for the 2019 season in Sochi next week. Will it be Daniil Kvyat and Pascal Wehrlein returning to the Paddock? Or will it be a fresh faced new driver?
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