Why an F1 driver is racing in FR3.5

As a twist to the usual script, this weekend's Formula Renault 3.5 season opener at Aragon will feature both the customary array of Formula 1 hopefuls and a man who has already arrived in the top echelon.

FR3.5 last year provided the revitalising elixir to Roberto Merhi's expiring career. Ejected from the DTM to make way for F1 refugees Paul di Resta and Vitaly Petrov, Merhi faced an uncertain future.

That the ever-cheerful, floppy-haired Spaniard is embarking on both a maiden season of F1 with Manor and a concurrent FR3.5 attack for Pons Racing indicates the restoration of his reputation.

Merhi has completed a U-turn from his original decision to eschew the category. The comeback is potentially high-risk. Pons has failed to register a podium since 2011. It has been anchored to the bottom of the teams' standings for two of the past three years.

So, why do it? In a narrative familiar to many a racing driver, financial considerations have influenced a sequence of career moves.

"My aim after winning the F3 Euro Series was to do GP2," says Merhi, raising his voice over the noise of a busy Dubai airport restaurant. "But at that time, I didn't have the budget for GP2 or even World Series.

Merhi has raced alongside world champions this year, and now will fight F1 hopefuls © LAT

"The only option then was to enter DTM. My deal with Zeta Corse last year was also a completely free drive, and I had known [team boss] Felix Porteiro since I was young. All my other options for 2014 required me to pay."

Last winter, Pons succeeded in attracting a group of sponsors to fund both its bike and World Series operations. The deal allowed it to pursue proven winner Merhi.

"I am quite open to doing both championships, because Pons has wanted me to drive for them since November," says Merhi, whose father, also Roberto, was an amateur driver during his late twenties thanks to a burgeoning ceramics business.

"They have really pushed hard to find the sponsors. In Spain, that is pretty tough. They placed confidence in me; I want to reward them.

"In Formula 1, I need to learn as much as I can, race by race. In FR3.5 I want to win the championship this time and do the best I can to develop the Pons car. The first time I drove it in Jerez, I was P1 immediately by 0.4s in the first morning.

"But when I drove the car for a long run it didn't work so well; we have a lot of degradation on the tyres. We are maybe missing three tenths, but I think I know where we can gain them."

For Merhi, loyalty and rekindled relationships are themes that run through his tale of resurgence. The adage that it pays to be good to people on the way up appears to have held true for the Castellon racer in the wake of being axed from Mercedes' DTM line-up.

Formula Renault 3.5 offered a return to single-seaters last year © LAT

Engineer Humphrey Corbett is certainly one man who has got Roberto Merhi under his skin. "Roberto is such a top guy," enthuses Corbett, in customary clipped tone. "I joined Zeta Corse for 2014, and I didn't even know he was going to be the driver.

"Felix Porteiro, who was sort of co-owner of the team, said, 'You know, we're going to run Robert Merhi', and looked at me to say, 'Is that going to be a problem?' My reaction was, 'Brilliant!'"

Corbett is well-qualified to judge drivers' abilities. During spells in F1 at Prost, Jaguar and Toyota, he engineered a roster of talents including Olivier Panis, Nick Heidfeld, Eddie Irvine and Jarno Trulli.

"I first met Merhi back with Epsilon Euskadi in 2008," recalls Corbett. "He was the star in their FR2.0 team and I saw him at close quarters when it was decided to test him in the World Series car."

Merhi had offered the only serious opposition to fellow standout performers Daniel Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas that season. While Merhi went on to become a dominant Formula 3 Euro Series champion in 2011, the transition of his former rivals into F1's young dynamos served to raise his stock.

"I was very happy when I saw both of them doing so well," says Merhi. "When I raced against them I was two years younger than them. To see people that you've raced against doing so well in F1, when they were at a similar level, is really nice as your aim is to compete with the best."

The first step on Merhi's path to being reunited with his contemporaries in Formula 1 was to strike a deal to race for Russian-owned, Valencia-based Zeta Corse.

Merhi with fellow Spaniard Carlos Sainz, who he hopes to emulate by winning FR3.5 © LAT

Although Merhi would bloom to joust with eventual champion Carlos Sainz Jr, early tests reacclimatising to a single-seater after his tin-top sojourn proved trying.

"When I first tried the car, it didn't go well," admits Merhi. "I hadn't driven a single-seater since Macau 2011. It did take a while to get used to everything, but the team always believed in me and pushed hard to make sure I got results."

Corbett reveals the team's modest doubts: "I sort of knew he had F1 potential because he had very good history, and had blown a lot of superstars away in the past. But that doesn't mean to say that when he joined Zeta he'd still got it. It was three years on. At the first test he was actually beaten by [team-mate Roman] Mavlanov, but it came together."

It would take until round four at Spa in June for the partnership to truly gel. "It took three or four races complaining about the same problems before we got the car working," assesses Merhi.

"We inherited a set-up that was developed around Sainz," explains Corbett. "He had got some top-six finishes [in 2013] so I thought it was quite a good set-up. I kept saying to myself, Sainz did well with it, so it should be good for Roberto. It took me two or three races to realise they have different styles. We had exhausted all of the possibilities, so then we changed it.

"After Spa, Roberto said this isn't good enough and we really have to sort the car out. We went back to base and devised a rear set-up that he really liked. After that, he was able to brake really late and had good traction. That gave him the confidence to push. He started to win races and set pole positions. He was a lot, lot happier."

First F1 role came with Caterham, with which Merhi tested on Friday in Italy and Russia © LAT

Rain in race one in Hungary provided an opportunity for Merhi to deliver a masterclass in wet-weather driving, achieving a scarcely believable 30-second margin of victory.

"The wet drive he did in Hungary was absolutely stonking," says Corbett. "I was shouting down the radio, 'Look after your tyres, look after your rear tyres.' He came back very calmly: 'Don't worry.'

"The other engineers later were saying they had been waiting for his rear tyres to go off, but they didn't because he is very precise under braking, he doesn't stress them. He thinks a lot during the race. That was one of the best wet-weather races I've ever seen.

"He just blew everybody away and that was down to him, it was nothing to do with the car. He looked after the tyres, drove sensibly and found the limits."

The Hungaroring performance struck a note with former Mercedes HWA DTM boss Gerhard Ungar, who was trying to steer the listing Caterham Formula 1 team away from the rocks. Ungar had remembered Merhi's audacious drive from last on the grid to second, including an additional pitstop to serve a penalty, in the previous year's wet Hockenheim DTM finale.

The financial health of Caterham had become perilous following the Monaco points finish by fellow perennial straggler Marussia. For Ungar, Merhi was a long shot worth pursuing.

"Gerhard was the one who called me to test the Caterham," recounts Merhi. "He told me, 'Look, we must score points if we're going to survive into next year. Maybe there'll be a decision to put you in the car.

Manor deal came late and car issues delayed Merhi's race debut until Malaysia © LAT

"If we have a wet race or a strange race with damp, changing, conditions, that's our best chance.' That's why I did the FP1s with them. They all went quite well - even if I was running with the old floor and old front wing."

Merhi's involvement in F1 has continued into 2015. To add to the revived relationships with Porteiro, Corbett and Ungar, Merhi got back together with his friends at Manor, which grew out of the team that fielded him in the 2009 F3 Euro Series.

Why the repeated instances of fandom from motor-racing movers and shakers? Corbett offers his view: "I like Roberto's precise feedback. 'That's it, fix this.' Then he would go away running or cycling.

"The other thing I like about the guy is he has an impish sense of humour that I can relate to. I have seen lots of cosseted drivers, who go around with carers and head shrinks.

"He reminds me a lot of Panis, who used to staple your notes together and you'd spend hours trying to pull the staples out. Roberto would reorganise your desk or do something like that. That is just fantastic in a driver. He is not grey or bland.

"He is not an old-school driver, but he still maintains a life outside motor racing, and it hasn't spoilt him."

The Manor deal was remarkably last minute. Stepping off the plane in Melbourne for the first grand prix of the year, Merhi was unaware he had secured the seat.

F1 move has pleased Merhi, despite him running at the back © LAT

"When I landed in Australia, it was only when Marc Hynes [the team's head of driver development] sent me an SMS that I found out that I would be a Manor F1 driver," he confirms. "Of course, I knew I had a chance, but I didn't know if it was an 80 per cent chance or a 20 per cent chance."

Back with the South Yorkshire team, there was a host of familiar and welcoming faces for Merhi, including Hynes, team boss John Booth and F3 team manager Pete Sliwinski.

"It feels great," says Merhi of his promotion to the sport's elite. "I am really happy because the team chose me because they believe in me. I don't have any budget to race there. It's really good to start and learn how everything works.

"In Shanghai we did as many laps in free practice as was possible. I'd say it was my first real grand prix. Maybe I went in the wrong direction on the set-up, but after the weekend I think I know the way to go. They are pushing really hard, with the same philosophy that they had in Formula 3."

Merhi exercises caution on his longer-term prospects, but has clear ambitions for the forthcoming season.

"Winning World Series would, of course, help me. I hope some good performances at Manor could help find a sponsor. We hope to debut a new car around the summer, then let's see. Maybe I can be on the F1 grid next year, in a position to score points or win races."