Roberto Merhi hopes Macau Grand Prix disaster does not harm his career prospects

Merhi was the pacesetter for much of the Macau weekend, but had to fight through from eighth on the grid in the qualification race after a penalty for causing a collision in Thursday practice.

He reached third place, only to make a slow start and get collected by Richie Stanaway in the main event.

The Spaniard is uncertain about what his future career holds, and admitted he was devastated by the way his Macau GP ended.

"The feeling was so good and I was really happy [on Saturday] because I wanted to finish third and not second, just to put some pressure to the other drivers to see if they'd make stupid mistakes, but in the end it is not a good feeling here because maybe it is my last race in single-seaters and I really did not want to finish like this in single-seaters," Merhi told AUTOSPORT.

Merhi said he took some comfort from the fact that many of the current Formula 1 stars had also failed to win Macau but still gone on to have successful careers.

"In the end when you see drivers like [Lewis] Hamilton and [Sebastian] Vettel, they also made mistakes and didn't win the races, and that is the only factor - perhaps showing that winning Macau is not that important," he said.

"But I really wanted to win because I wanted to be quick, the team did a good job, but sometimes these things happen."

The Mercedes-backed driver added that HWA's Gerhard Unger had reassured him that his Macau difficulties would not have a big impact on his future.

"He said you did a really good year so far, and this can happen - it is
a human mistake," Merhi said. "That is what he said, and to be not worried because maybe now, I am really annoyed, but the next day is another day and life continues."

He added that his 2012 plans remained in Mercedes' hands.

"I think it is Mercedes decision - they need to say what I need to do," said Merhi. "But we are going to see where they put me."

With Paul di Resta having reached F1 via a Mercedes DTM seat, Merhi acknowledged that he was open to that possibility - and pointed out that di Resta also failed to win in Macau.

"He also didn't win here, he went straight at the first corner," said Merhi of di Resta. "I hope to have a similar career - or even better. But it is going to be hard."