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Interview

King “perfectly ready” to step into Manor F1 seat

Jordan King says he would be “perfectly ready” to replace Rio Haryanto at Manor should the Indonesian driver be unable to see out the current Formula 1 season.

Jordan King, Manor Racing MRT05

Jordan King, Manor Racing MRT05

XPB Images

Jordan King, Manor Racing MRT05
Jordan King, Manor Racing Development Driver
Jordan King, Manor Racing MRT05
Jordan King, Manor Racing MRT05
Jordan King, Manor Racing MRT05
Podium: winner Jordan King, Racing Engineering
Winner Jordan King, Racing Engineering
Podium: winner Jordan King, Racing Engineering

Manor development driver King had his first taste of Grand Prix machinery with the Banbury-based team at Abu Dhabi in 2015, getting his second day of running earlier this year during in-season testing at Barcelona.

The 22-year-old Briton is back in action for the final in-season test day of 2016 at Silverstone, fresh from his second victory of the season in GP2.

And while King says he is unaware of the specifics of Haryanto’s financial situation, he says he feels he is now qualified enough to step in should the Indonesian be forced to bow out at Manor.

“I feel I’m perfectly ready to step into a F1 car [to race],” King told Motorsport.com.

“The first time I got in the car in Abu Dhabi was the shock of ‘I’ve actually driven an F1 car’, so at Barcelona it was a bit more chilled out.

“I actually knew what I was doing and it wasn’t ‘stars in your eyes’ so much, so I could focus more on doing the job.

“Physically, driving a GP2 car is probably harder than F1, and mentally I’m more than ready after getting a couple of wins.

“As for the eventuality, who knows what will happen. I’m focused on GP2, and then we’ll see if I get the phone call.”

GP2 momentum

King, who now sits seventh in the GP2 standings following sprint race wins in Austria and at Silverstone, admitted that a strong second half to his campaign in the feeder series will be vital to his chances of a Grand Prix future.

“If I get in the top three in the championship [in GP2], it will make it a lot easier [to get to F1],” he said.

“As long as I keep doing what I'm doing, we’ve been strong all year but I’ve started to get some consistency these last couple of weekends, then it makes my cause for coming into F1 a lot better.

“There’s the obvious Manor connection, so it’s the most likely place I would look to for a seat.”

Asked if discussions with Manor about a race seat had taken place yet, he replied: "Not in any detail."

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