Roberto Merhi

Roberto Merhi

Merhi at the 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix.
Born	Roberto Merhi Muntan (1991-03-22) 22 March 1991 Castellón, Spain
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Spanish
Active years	2015
Teams	Marussia
Entries	14 (13 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	2015 Australian Grand Prix
Last entry	2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Previous series
2014–present 2014 2012–13 2009–11 2009 2008 2007–08 2007–08 2006–07	Formula Renault 3.5 Series Stock Car Brasil DTM Formula 3 Euro Series British Formula 3 Formula Renault 2.0 WEC Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup Spanish Formula Three Formula Renault 2.0 Italia
Championship titles
2011	Formula 3 Euro Series

Roberto Merhi Muntan (born 22 March 1991) is a Spanish racing driver who, in 2015, drove in Formula One for the Manor Marussia F1 Team as well as the Formula Renault 3.5 Series for Pons Racing. Merhi is also a part of the revitalized Mercedes-Benz Junior Team, together with Christian Vietoris and Robert Wickens. In 2011, Merhi won the Formula 3 Euro Series championship, while driving for Prema Powerteam.

Career

Merhi competing at the opening round of the 2009 Formula 3 Euro Series at Hockenheim.

Merhi was born in Castellón de la Plana, Spain to Brazilian parents of Lebanese descent.^[1]

Formula Renault

In 2007, Merhi mainly competed in Italian Formula Renault and the Formula Renault Eurocup, finishing 4th and 18th respectively. In 2008 he competed in the West European Series, where he was runner-up, and he finished 4th in the Eurocup. He also did five races in the Spanish Formula Three Championship.^[2]

Formula Three

Merhi made the full-time step-up to Formula Three in 2009 when he was signed by Manor Motorsport for their Formula 3 Euro Series campaign, finishing seventh, with four podiums. He moved to Mücke Motorsport for the 2010 season, improving on his debut season by finishing fifth in the standings, with four podiums, including his maiden win at Hockenheim.^[3] 2011 saw another change in teams for Merhi, this time joining Prema Powerteam. Merhi subsequently won the championship, getting 20 top-3 finishes, including 11 wins.

DTM

Merhi at Brands Hatch during the 2012 DTM season.

On 3 April 2012, Mercedes announced the revival of the Mercedes-Benz Junior Team that has guided several notable drivers in their racing careers like Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Karl Wendlinger and Michael Schumacher. With that announcement came the news that Roberto Merhi, together with the reigning Formula Renault 3.5 Series champion Robert Wickens and DTM-sophomore Christian Vietoris, would become a part of the new Junior Team and that the three of them would drive for the Junior Team in the 2012 DTM season. In addition to that, 7-time F1 World Champion Michael Schumacher will be involved with the three drivers by serving as a mentor. Merhi's entry into the DTM meant that he would be one of two Spaniards in the drivers field, together with Miguel Molina.^[4]

Merhi scored no points in 2012 for Persson Motorsport. In his second season he switched to HWA Team. He collected a 7th place at the Norisring and two 10th finishes. In the final race of the season he recorded his best finish of 2nd to end the season 15th in the standings.

Formula Renault 3.5 Series

Merhi during Race 1 of the 2014 Formula Renault 3.5 Series season at Nürburgring.

Merhi moved to Formula Renault 3.5 Series in 2014 with Zeta Corse.^[5] He finished third in the championship.

Merhi switched to Pons Racing for the 2015 season. He competed in the first round at Aragon, but was replaced by Alex Fontana so as to focus on his commitments with Marussia during the second round in Monaco, which had their races on the same date. He rejoined the team following the event.

In round five in Austria, Merhi was deemed at fault for a massive collision with Nicholas Latifi when Merhi slowed at the finish line. He was disqualified from the race and banned from the next two events, and has since not returned to the series.

Formula One

Merhi competing in the 2015 Belgian Grand Prix.

Merhi has appeared for two Formula One teams thus far in his career, Caterham and Marussia.

Caterham (2014)

Merhi made his first appearance in a Formula One car for the Caterham team during practice for the 2014 Italian Grand Prix.^[6] It is believed that he was being evaluated for a race seat in place of Kamui Kobayashi, but had yet to qualify for an FIA Super Licence.^[7]

Marussia (2015)

On 9 March 2015, the Marussia F1 team announced that Merhi would drive in the Australian Grand Prix, alongside Britain's Will Stevens.^[8] However, Marussia did not compete in Australia due to a technical problem. In the Malaysian Grand Prix Merhi competed in his first Formula One race despite problems to his teammate Will Stevens car. Merhi failed to set a lap time within 107% of the fastest time in Q1, but the race stewards allowed Merhi to start the race. Merhi finished in 15th place, 3 laps down on race winner Sebastian Vettel. In the Chinese Grand Prix, Merhi finished in 16th place behind his teammate Stevens. In Bahrain and Spain Merhi also finished behind Stevens. However, in the Monaco Grand Prix Merhi finished in 16th ahead of Stevens. In the Canadian Grand Prix, Merhi qualified ahead of Stevens and would start in 16th thanks to penalties to Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen. As well as that Jenson Button failed to set a lap time in qualifying because of an engine issue. In the race, Merhi was a minute ahead of Stevens but on lap 56, he was forced to retire due to a drive-shaft problem. It was the first time that Merhi failed to finish a Formula One race that he started, but he remained ahead of Stevens in the Drivers' Championship. In Austria, Merhi finished in 14th position, 3 laps behind race winner Nico Rosberg. Merhi was dropped in favour of Alexander Rossi for five of the last seven Grands Prix of 2015, the exceptions being Russia and Abu Dhabi.^[9]

Racing career

Career summary

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results

(key)

Complete GP3 Series results

(key) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete DTM results

(key) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicates fastest lap)

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2016	Manor	Tor Graves Matt Rao	Oreca 05-Nissan	LMP2	283	DNF	DNF

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Roberto Merhi.

• Official website
• Roberto Merhi on Twitter
  
• Roberto Merhi career summary at DriverDB.com

Marussia F1/Manor Marussia
Notable personnel John McQuilliam Bob Bell John Booth Andrey Cheglakov Nikolai Fomenko Graeme Lowdon Pat Symonds Andy Webb Notable drivers Jules Bianchi Max Chilton Timo Glock Roberto Merhi Charles Pic Alexander Rossi Will Stevens Formula One cars MR01 MR02 MR03/MR03B Related Marussia Motors Manor Motorsport