Breaking news
Formula 1 Australian GP
Wehrlein defends Australian GP withdrawal
Sauber Formula 1 driver Pascal Wehrlein has defended his withdrawal from the Australian Grand Prix, and stressed it is not a recurrence of his back injury.
Adam Cooper
Edited: Mar 25, 2017, 5:40 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Wehrlein missed the first pre-season test at Barcelona after hurting his back in a crash at the Race of Champions in January.
Though Wehrlein returned for the second week of testing in Spain, he was limited to half-day appearances and did not complete more than 10 flying laps at a time.
He was declared fit to compete this weekend by the FIA on Thursday, but said he developed fears in Friday practice he would struggle to perform over a race distance.
Pressed on why he would not persevere through the pain, as drivers have done in the past, Wehrlein replied: “Every situation is different. I had a back injury and I couldn’t train as hard as I wanted and that is it.
“So every situation is different. We are not feeling comfortable to race this weekend."
He added: "The injury happened, I think, nine weeks ago, and that was the time where you just have to prepare as good as you can for the season.
"The injury took me a step backwards, of course, and now I'm just catching up.
"I felt like everything was OK, but just not for the whole race distance.
"You never drive under race circumstances, and yesterday in the car in the long run you feel it more than in testing or in shorter runs."
Wehrlein told the Sauber team of his concerns during its post-FP2 briefing and Ferrari agreed that its third driver Antonio Giovinazzi could replace him.
Team principal Monisha Kaltenborn has already claimed Wehrlein would return for the Chinese Grand Prix, and she said the team wanted to respect his decision.
“For the team it matters what the driver says and if the driver is not 100% there to deliver the way the driver also wants to,” she said.
“We will not take any unnecessary risks here. We cope with it and we find a solution which should work with us.”
Additional reporting by Scott Mitchell
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Wehrlein replaced by Giovinazzi for Australian Grand Prix
Next article Australian GP: Vettel fastest in FP3 as Stroll shunts
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Adam Cooper
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Formula 1
Formula 1
Japanese GP
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Formula 1
Formula 1
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
Formula 1
Formula 1
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
More from
Antonio Giovinazzi
Ferrari hails "emotional" Monza pole in final WEC race for 499P
WEC
WEC
Monza
Ferrari hails "emotional" Monza pole in final WEC race for 499P
Ferrari “didn’t expect” #50 to win Austin WEC as #51 pitstop issue revealed
WEC
WEC
COTA
Ferrari “didn’t expect” #50 to win Austin WEC as #51 pitstop issue revealed
Ferrari “thinking race by race" about WEC title fight after scoring ‘equal’ pole in Austin
WEC
WEC
COTA
Ferrari “thinking race by race" about WEC title fight after scoring ‘equal’ pole in Austin
More from
Sauber
Sebastian Vettel reveals why BMW didn't want him – but Red Bull did
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sebastian Vettel reveals why BMW didn't want him – but Red Bull did
You Ask The Questions: Robert Kubica
Formula 1
You Ask The Questions: Robert Kubica
Lewis Hamilton 'almost signed for Sauber' before F1 debut, says Peter Sauber
Formula 1
Formula 1
Barcelona-Catalunya Pre-Season Testing
Lewis Hamilton 'almost signed for Sauber' before F1 debut, says Peter Sauber
Latest news
Robert Kubica announces exit from AF Corse’s privateer Hypercar in WEC
WEC
WEC WEC
Monza
36 min
Robert Kubica announces exit from AF Corse’s privateer Hypercar in WEC
Charles Leclerc penalised for Liam Lawson clash; Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman also punished after F1 Brazilian GP
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
1 h
Charles Leclerc penalised for Liam Lawson clash; Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman also punished after F1 Brazilian GP
Max Verstappen "needs to understand what happened" after "night and day" F1 comeback in Brazilian GP
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
1 h
Max Verstappen "needs to understand what happened" after "night and day" F1 comeback in Brazilian GP
Feature
Discover prime content
How F1’s rules got to be so complex
Formula 1
By Pat Symonds
How F1’s rules got to be so complex
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe