Manor team relieved to be able to race on Sunday in Malaysia

Roberto Merhi expressed his disappointment with his qualifying result, second-to-last and outside the 107% rule. The Spanish driver hoped to stay within the 107% limit during qualifying, even though not everything went perfectly for him in his debut behind the wheel of an F1 car in Malaysia.

Merhi is nonetheless satisfied with the work done even though he can still do better: « We hoped to be within the 107% today, and that’s what we worked for this weekend. Unfortunately, we missed it by 4 tenths. In the three sessions, Will showed that the car is generally there in terms of pace, while I spun during FP3 today, in addition to yesterday. I was not able to drive consistently for the team. »

Will Stevens did not drive much today, Saturday, in Malaysia due to a problem with the fuel system of his Manor, but he proved on Friday that the Manor was not completely out of the running: « Obviously, I was very disappointed not to be able to take part in the qualification. During FP3, we encountered a problem with the fuel system and we tried to solve it, but unfortunately, we did not manage to do it in time for me to take part. But there is a positive side, as we continue to try, and the practice sessions showed promising things and my times were within the 107% on Friday. »

Despite times outside the 107% in qualifying, the FIA has allowed the British team to race tomorrow for the race, which is a relief for team principal John Booth, even though he knows there is still much work to be done to improve: “We knew that our first weekend of driving would not come without its challenges and although we had a positive day yesterday, it was important to keep our expectations in check for qualifying. Both our drivers did a good job for their debut and Friday’s practice was promising in terms of pace for the 107%, but today highlighted the fact that we have a lot of work to do.”