Pascal Wehrlein's Manor Move Shows Mercedes Have Best Young Driver Program in F1

By Christmas Eve, Pascal Wehrlein was not expecting any extra-special gifts to come his way.

The momentum that surrounded the 21-year-old following his victory in the DTM (German touring car) series, a championship he claimed with near-perfect timing following the Manor Formula One team's confirmed switch to Mercedes engines last October, was fading rapidly.

At a time Will Stevens told Motorsport.com's Pablo Elizalde he was "100 per cent confident" of retaining his place and Rio Haryanto had been granted £10 million by the Indonesian government to pursue the other seat, the Mercedes-affiliated driver had become an outsider in the struggle to join the Mercedes-affiliated team.

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Having previously told ESPN F1's Laurence Edmondson that Manor stood to make more money from signing pay drivers, Toto Wolff, the head of Mercedes' motorsport activities, suggested the backmarkers—as is often the case with the smaller, independent teams—had suddenly shifted the financial goalposts.

And the €4 million he was willing to pay to guarantee his driver's place on the 2016 grid was now deemed "by far not enough," per Autosport's Gerhard Kuntschik.

Wehrlein's dream, it seemed, was to be put on hold, and rather than graduating to the so-called pinnacle of motorsport, the German would be left with no option but to defend his tin-top title this season.

Yet despite the negative feedback emerging from Manor over the festive period, Mercedes, to their credit, never admitted defeat.

For all the confidence in Stevens' camp, and for all the money in Indonesia—not to mention the positivity displayed by Alexander Rossi, who told Sky Sports' William Esler of his hopes of earning a full-time drive after participating in five races in 2015—Manor revealed no details about their driver lineup at the beginning of the year.

Until, just 12 days prior to the start of pre-season testing, the team confirmed that Wehrlein had beaten all three and would be racing for them in 2016 after all.

The clincher? Not just Wehrlein's "talent and hunger," as team owner Stephen Fitzpatrick told Manor's official Facebook page, but the revised terms offered by Mercedes, which included a financial package of up to €6 million and access to the two-time world champions' "50 per cent windtunnel facility," according to Autosport's Ian Parkes. 

Mercedes' unflinching determination to secure Wehrlein's place at Manor, where he will race alongside Haryanto, and ensure the German's career maintains a linear trajectory was indicative of the belief the Silver Arrows have in his potential.

And it also proved Mercedes have the best young-driver program in F1—simply by not having a young-driver program, per se.

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While their rival teams and manufacturers—Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren and Renault—are renowned for signing herds of drivers to their dedicated academies, Mercedes tend to work on a case-by-case basis.

If Wolff and Co. happen to come across a promising young driver they admire, they are more than happy to support their careers, provide them with opportunities and do everything in their power to help them reach their goals (Wehrlein, for instance, was appointed Mercedes' reserve driver just a week after testing an F1 car for the first time in 2014).

A more concentrated pool of youngsters means they are unable to match the figures of, say, the Red Bull Junior Team, which has produced 10 grand prix debutants (including a certain four-time world champion) and discarded many more talented drivers since Dietrich Mateschitz rebranded the Jaguar team in 2005.

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But the chosen ones at Mercedes are assured of the full and undivided support of a company with no apparent ego and a reluctance to make reckless decisions.

There are no comic-book villains in the style of Dr. Helmut Marko, who never misses an opportunity to threaten even the most talented and successful Red Bull graduates. No horror stories of drivers being mishandled and mismanaged, as we witnessed following Kevin Magnussen's departure from McLaren in late 2015.

And no petty political or personal feuds akin to the one that ended Raffaele Marciello's time at Ferrari, where team principal Maurizio Arrivabene "just didn't like" him, as the 21-year-old later told Italian publication Autosprint (h/t Motorsport.com's Valentin Khorounzhiy).

In nurturing their young drivers, Mercedes demonstrate levels of responsibility, loyalty and emotional intelligence rarely displayed by any of their rivals, and it was no surprise when the team announced plans for their latest apprentice just 24 hours following the confirmation of Wehrlein's move to Manor.

Having won the GP3 title in 2015, 12 months after beating Max Verstappen to the F3 championship, Esteban Ocon will compete in the DTM this season, filling the Wehrlein-sized hole in Mercedes' lineup.

Rather than progressing to the GP2 feeder series, where he would have raced under the unforgiving scrutiny of F1 folk, the 19-year-old will be protected to some extent by participating in a highly polished, professional and competitive series.

As well as his DTM commitments, Ocon will hold a reserve role at the Renault F1 operation, where he is likely to drive the RS16 car in practice sessions on grand prix weekends, as managing director Cyril Abiteboul told Motorsport.com's Noble.

The unusual agreement, which has effectively seen Ocon loaned to a rival manufacturer, only further illustrates that Mercedes' junior scheme is very much centred around the drivers—not the team—and a commitment to offering the Frenchman the best possible preparation prior to his eventual graduation to F1.

When he makes his F1 debut at next weekend's Australian Grand Prix, meanwhile, Wehrlein is likely to be rooted to the rear of the field as his fellow Mercedes stablemates, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, fight between themselves for victory.

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The sight of a future Mercedes driver at the back of the grid, as the current Mercedes drivers begin what is expected to be another championship-winning season, will be symbolic of the Silver Arrows' influence on modern-day F1.

Mercedes aren't just dominating the present—they're setting the standard when it comes to developing the stars of tomorrow.

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