Mercedes to nominate championship driver after Oschersleben

Mercedes motorsport director, Toto Wolff, has revealed that the team will not be putting its weight behind a championship contender until after Oschersleben in three weeks time.

After Robert Wickens’ victory and Christian Vietoris’ third place at the Nurburgring on Sunday, both Mercedes youngsters have moved up to third and second in the drivers’ championship on 70 and 71 points respectively, with three races of the 2013 DTM season remaining.

Gary Paffett, who endured a nightmare race and finished a lap down on Wickens in 17th, dropped to sixth in the drivers’ standings, but with 57 points, the 2005 DTM champion still has a mathematical chance of taking the title.

“We have three cars which are near to each other on the points and it’s about looking at Oschersleben and what happens in the race there,” Wolff told TouringCarTimes. “We are not yet in a position to speak about favouring drivers and strategies.”

Wolff also said he feels the decision to have a young driver line-up this season was vindicated by the 1-3 result at the Nurburgring, as well as the strong performances put in during the season by DTM rookies, Dani Juncadella and Pascal Wehrlein.

“This absolutely proves our decision, but we have always said this is a mid to long-term strategy and it is already paying off in the first year and I’m really happy about it.

“Christian [Vietoris] and Robert [Wickens] are a pair of really quick boys and they’ve been with us quite some time; this is Robert’s second year and Christian’s third.

“They are at such a level now, that there is not going to be such big oscillations [in performance], so I’m expecting this performance to the end.

“Pascal [Wehrlein] and Dani [Juncadella] are coming up too, so there is more to come from them.”