The end may be nigh for Manor Racing’s Rio Haryanto. The Indonesian Formula One driver who got his seat via sponsorship money from Indonesian state-run oil company Pertamina, is currently “paid up” through 11 races – but after that, he will either need more money or more wins to secure his seat for the second half of the 2016 Formula One racing season.
So far, Pertamina has contributed $5.57 million to Manor in Haryanto’s behalf, but it is speculated that Pertamina will need to bring in another $16.7 million to secure Haryanto’s ride through the end of the year.
Manor is currently F1’s smallest team and in the five races run this season, Haryanto has retired in two and placed 17th twice and 21st once in accumulating no points for the season. He currently sits in dead last – 23rd – in the driver rankings [even behind Stoffel Vandoorne, who drove one race as a last-minute substitute for McLaren’s Fernando Alonso and garnered one point for that effort].
