Formula One is on summer break this month, giving the drivers and other team personnel a chance to rest up. But when they return, there’ll be a fresh face on the grid.
Manor Racing has announced that it is replacing Rio Haryanto with Esteban Ocon for the remainder of the season. Haryanto faced setbacks in securing funding from the government in his native Indonesia to pay his way beyond the Hungarian Grand Prix last month, and managed to hold on to his seat for one more race through Germany. But in the end he came up short, prompting his team to assign his seat to someone else.
That someone else is a promising up-and-coming talent in motor racing. Esteban Ocon is a former Formula 3 and GP3 champion, and a member of the Mercedes-Benz talent development program. He currently competes in DTM while serving as Renault’s test driver. His F1 race debut is scheduled for the Belgian Grand Prix later this month, when he’ll partner with Pascal Wehrlein who keeps his seat in the other car.
As part of the shuffle, Mercedes has put its test/reserve driver Felix Rosenqvist in Ocon’s C63 DTM. No word on who Renault will use as a test driver for the rest of the season, but it has an extensive junior program of its own on which to draw. Meanwhile Manor has offered Haryanto the opportunity to stay on as its test driver for the remainder of the season – a role which he may or may not accept.
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