Wehrlein on Force India's choice: "They preferred Ocon for character reasons"

As a proud young driver, Pascal Wehrlein must not have been overjoyed that Force India chose Esteban Ocon and not him for 2017. Despite being in the running to jump directly onto the Mercedes queen, the German is back talking about his failure to sign with the Anglo team -Indian, explaining what in his view were the reasons for the "no". Apparently, love did not blossom between the Mercedes school driver and the Silverstone team in the winter tests of 2015, when Pascal alternated in Barcelona at the wheel of Force India and Mercedes, and in the subsequent tests of Zeltweg in June of the same year.

“Something must have happened during the tests I did with them - explained the Manor driver to Autosport - I wanted to learn from the situation, but something must not have gone right. I know what were the reasons that led Force India to choose Ocon. It's something that doesn't have to do with performance, they simply felt that Esteban suited the team better in character. The decision made towards me depended on how they were with me from a human point of view, it is something that concerns the personal side. The truth is that in those tests something happened, they were not happy for some reason, that's all. I can only learn from this experience and improve for the future."

AR