China provided even more progress for the Manor team, who went from running zero cars in Australia, to running one in Malaysia to running two in China. In addition, they are yet to suffer a retirement from a race, one of just two teams to do so. However, Manor’s problems include being significantly off the pace off the next cars, who are the rapidly improving McLarens. It is pretty clear that for now at least, finishing not last will be a pretty big shock for Manor, as they appear to be roughly three seconds off the pace of the next cars.
2015 Bahrain Grand Prix Manor Preview
No. 28 Will Stevens
2015 Form: -/-/15
Stevens brought the car home ahead of his team mate last time out in China, in his first proper appearance of the season. It was a good way to draw first blood against Roberto Merhi, who is relatively highly rated. Stevens is yet to race at Bahrain, so that will be tricky for him to learn the circuit, especially with the change in lighting throughout the sessions. The intra-team battle at Manor should be pretty interesting to watch.
No. 98 Roberto Merhi
2015 Form: -/15/16
Merhi was beaten on merit last time out at Shanghai. Whilst he remains ahead in the championship on the basis of having two race finishes compared to Stevens, he has not looked any quicker than his team mate so far. With his F1 career in the balance and his Formula Renault 3.5 commitments fast approaching, the Spaniard is going to need to get at least on top of his team mate to try and remain in F1 for the immediate future.
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