Pascal Wehrlein says he is disappointed with his performance in Melbourne after qualifying in last position
Wehrlein will start one place higher in 21st after Manor teammate Rio Haryanto received a three-place grid penalty for colliding with Romain Grosjean during FP3.
The new qualifying system meant both Wehrlein and Haryanto could only complete one flying lap – both of their laps were slower than their fastest times in FP3 suggesting the duo underperformed in qualifying.
The German says he cannot blame the qualifying system but admits Manor needs to improve for future events, if the current format remains for the next race in Bahrain.
“Not the result I was hoping for but I can’t complain; the system is the system. This was our first shot at it and we’ll have to find a way to improve. The window is incredibly tight so while my lap time is key, we have to work hard to optimise the strategy to see where we can gain extra time.
“I don’t think there was too much more we could have done today on the first time out, so we’ll have to take it step by step to make it better. Tomorrow is where it really counts though. I’ve waited a long time for this moment so as disappointed as I am today, nothing will take the shine away from lining up on the grid for the first time.”
