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Pascal Wehrlein may be regarded as Mercedes' answer to Max Verstappen, but there was a very real danger the German wouldn't be in Formula One in 2016.

When the Mercedes-backed youngster won the prestigious DTM touring car championship in October 2015, just two weeks after the Manor F1 team announced a deal to use Mercedes engines, it felt like the ideal time for one of the more predictable driver deals of 2016 to be confirmed.

Yet the wait for the news of his graduation to F1 went on and on to the point where Wehrlein told F1i.com's Chris Medland he was more likely to defend his DTM title—or switch to the GP2 feeder series—than join Lewis Hamilton and Co. on the grid.

However, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff had a plan.

Having previously told ESPN F1's Laurence Edmondson how Manor—a team who only emerged from administration just months earlier—stood to earn more money from signing pay drivers than agreeing to an engine-plus-driver deal, Wolff came back with one last offer.

As reported by Autosport (h/t Eurosport), a fee of up to €6 million, in addition to access to Mercedes' half-scale wind tunnel, was deemed satisfactory by Manor, and Wehrlein's contract was finally signed and sealed just 12 days before the start of winter testing in February.

On the evidence of Wehrlein's performances across the first half of the season, all three parties will be delighted they managed to get the deal over the line in the end.

Following our analysis of the two other rookies on the 2016 grid—Renault's Jolyon Palmer and Manor's Rio Haryanto, who has since been dropped by the team—here's what we make of Wehrlein's start to life in F1.