Pascal Wehrlein withdrawns from Australian Grand Prix, Antonio Giovinazzi replacing Wehrlein

It was confirmed this morning (25/3/17) from Sauber that Pascal Wehrlein will sit out the Australian Grand Prix in the wake of injured his back in a crash at the Race of Champions in January, with Ferrari reverse driver Antonio Giovinazzi replacing him.



Wehrlein injured his back in a crash at the Race of Champions in January and was forced to miss the first pre-season test at Barcelona as a result.

Although he completed the second test and was able to drive in Friday practices in Melbourne, he told the team on Saturday morning that he was concerned about his ability to finish the race so wanted to stand down.

Ferrari reverse driver Antonio Giovinazzi stood in for Wehrlein in the first test at Barcelona and the 2016 GP2 runner-up will make his Grand Prix debut alongside Marcus Ericsson for this weekends Australian Grand Prix.



In my opinion, it was the right call from Pascal Wehrlein if his not 100% recovered and a surprising one too going into qualifying. This was more of long term health rather then thinking short term. As for Pascal Wehrlein, get well soon and lets have a 100% Pascal back to race in Formula 1.