The Indonesian rookie lost his race seat this week due to budgetary issues, with the team confirming Frenchman Esteban Ocon will compete for the remainder of the season.
Advertisement
“Rio will be available to deputise should either race driver be unable to take part in an event”, a team statement confirmed.
After being replaced by Esteban Ocon for the remainder of the Formula One season, Rio Haryanto will stay at Manor in a reserve capacity.
All Offers and Promotions posted in this article excludes NSW residents.
Ocon, who will race alongside fellow Mercedes junior Pascal Wehrlein, is highly regarded within Renault and in contention to replace either Jolyon Palmer or Kevin Magnussen next season.
Mercedes announced separately that it has replaced Ocon in the German touring vehicle series (DTM) with Felix Rosenqvist.
But he will now be handed his full Formula One debut after Haryanto, heavily sponsored by Indonesia’s state-owned oil company Pertamina, ran out of money to fund his seat.
The team confirmed the deal on Thursday.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff added: “Manor is just the right environment for a young driver to get his first experience of F1”.
The Indonesian has been offered a reserve driver role for the remaining nine rounds of the F1 world championship, Ryan said.
“They’ve done a great job this season and I’m excited that I’ve been tasked with helping them to build on that progress”.
His new partnership with Wehrlein, who scored Manor’s only point of the season in Austria, also allows Mercedes to observe their two rising stars up against each other.
“We’re confident that when Esteban makes his grand prix debut in Spa, we will have a very potent line-up with which to take the fight to our immediate competitors for the rest of the season”.
Advertisement
Ocon will make his formula racing debut in the Belgian Grand Prix on August 28.
