Toto Wolff has confirmed that Pascal Wehrlein will be a Mercedes "test driver" in 2018. Having debuted at Manor, the young German has now lost his race seat after his second season in F1 with Sauber.



But Wolff said recently that Wehrlein, 23, will continue to enjoy the backing of the Mercedes driver programme. And the Mercedes chief now tells Sport Bild: "We have supported Pascal since 2013 and he earned his chance in formula one after his DTM victory in 2015."



"After that, he experienced two not so easy years in formula one with Manor and Sauber. But we will keep him in our racing family in 2018 and also offer him a role as F1 test driver at Mercedes, to keep his door open to formula one for 2019," Wolff added. (GMM)