Following the summer break there will be a new face on the grid in Formula One.
For the second time this year there has been a mid-season change by one of the teams regarding their drivers.
The first was with Red Bull Racing, promoting Max Verstappen from Toro Rosso to the main sister team and then demoting Danill Kvyat.
That move was seen as pretty cynical, but was at least based on the talent of the driver, something that was proved correct when he became the youngest Formula One Grand Prix winner on his debut for Red Bull.
The second and most recent move is purely down to money.
Rio Haryanto has been sacked by Manor as he was unable to fulfil his ‘contractual obligations’.
‘Some time ago, his management indicated that they were experiencing difficulties honouring the obligations of that contract beyond the Hungarian Grand Prix,’ Manor race director Dave Ryan said to Sky Sports.
‘Rio’s team have worked tirelessly to try to resolve that situation with his Indonesian backers and we have supported those efforts as much as possible, including allowing Rio to race in Germany. Unfortunately we reached a point where, in the best interests of the team, we were forced to explore other options for the remainder of the season.’
The Indonesian will now become the teams reserve driver, whilst 19-year-old Esteban Ocon steps in.
Ocon is a part of the Mercedes-Benz driver development programme and was this seasons Renault reserve driver.
During his years in the junior formulas he has won races in Formula Renault 2.0, the FIA European Formula 3 Championship where he won the 2014 title and in GP3 where he won that championship in 2015.
This season he has had 10 races for Mercedes-Benz in DTM.
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