Oct.14 (GMM) Norbert Haug, the boss of Mercedes' F1 programme, has played down rumours that Paul di Resta may be pushed onto the grand prix grid as early as next year.
"The options for Paul next year are either to stay in DTM or go into GP2 -- but nothing is decided," said the German.It emerged in the Fuji paddock last weekend that di Resta, the 22-year-old Scottish driver, will possibly be bundled with a customer McLaren package at a small F1 team next year.He currently races for Mercedes' premier effort in the German touring car series DTM, and recently made his test debut for McLaren."We have a policy of trying to promote young drivers into formula one," team boss Ron Dennis confirmed.It is also now clear that di Resta is being managed by Anthony Hamilton, the father of the most famous McLaren protege, championship leader Lewis.Dennis said a programme for di Resta will gather more momentum after the season."That may not necessarily be with McLaren or any specific team. But obviously to put your weight behind someone you have to have a clear perspective of what they can do, so that is why we are going through this process," he added.