Roberto Merhi
Roberto Merhi Muntan is a Spanish racing driver, who competes in the GT300 class of Super GT for Team LeMans and also serves as sporting director for Spanish F4 team TC Racing. Merhi competed in Formula One at 14 Grands Prix in.
Merhi previously competed in Formula E for Mahindra and drove in Formula One. Merhi has also raced in the Renault 3.5 Series">Renault in Formula One">Renault 3.5 Series for Pons, and won the Formula 3 Euro Series season|Formula 3 Euro Series] championship, whilst driving for Prema. In, he drove for MP and Campos in the FIA [Formula 2 Championship]. Since 2019, he has competed in sportscar racing, including finishing third in the 2019–20 [Asian Le Mans Series].
Career
Merhi was born in Castellón de la Plana, Spain to Brazilian parents of Lebanese descent.Formula Renault
In 2007, Merhi mainly competed in Italian Formula Renault and the Formula Renault Eurocup, finishing fourth and 18th respectively. In 2008, he competed in the West European Series, where he was runner-up, and he finished fourth in the Eurocup. He also did five races in the Spanish Formula Three Championship.Formula Three
Merhi made the full-time step-up to Formula Three in 2009 when he was signed by Manor Motorsport for their Formula 3 Euro Series campaign, finishing seventh, with four podiums. He moved to Mücke Motorsport for the 2010 season, improving on his debut season by finishing fifth in the standings, with four podiums, including his maiden win at Hockenheim.2011 saw another change in teams for Merhi, this time joining Prema Powerteam. Merhi subsequently won the championship, getting 20 top-three finishes, including eleven wins.
DTM
2012
On 3 April 2012, Mercedes announced the revival of the Mercedes-Benz Junior Team that has guided several notable drivers in their racing careers like Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Karl Wendlinger and Michael Schumacher. With that announcement came the news that Merhi, together with the reigning Formula Renault 3.5 Series champion Robert Wickens and DTM-sophomore Christian Vietoris, would become a part of the new Junior Team and that the three of them would drive for the Junior Team in the 2012 DTM season. In addition to that, seven-time F1 World Champion Michael Schumacher will be involved with the three drivers by serving as a mentor. Merhi's entry into the DTM meant that he would be one of two Spaniards in the drivers field, together with Miguel Molina. Merhi scored no points in 2012 for Persson Motorsport.2013
In his second season, Merhi switched to HWA Team. He collected a seventh place at the Norisring and two tenth-place finishes. In the final race of the season he recorded his best finish of second to end the season 15th in the standings.Formula Renault 3.5 Series
File:WsbR-Germany-2014-Race1-Roberto Merhi.jpg|thumb|left|Merhi during Race 1 of the 2014 Formula Renault 3.5 Series season at Nürburgring.Merhi moved to Formula Renault 3.5 Series in 2014 with Zeta Corse. He finished third in the championship.
Merhi switched to Pons Racing for the 2015 season. He competed in the first round at Aragon, but was replaced by Alex Fontana so as to focus on his commitments with Marussia during the second round in Monaco, which had their races on the same date. He rejoined the team following the event.
In round five in Austria, Merhi was deemed at fault for a massive collision with Nicholas Latifi when Merhi slowed at the finish line. He was disqualified from the race and banned from the next two events, and has since not returned to the series.
FIA Formula 2 Championship
2017
In 2017, Merhi replaced Stefano Coletti at Campos Racing for the Barcelona round of the championship. He also competed at the Spa, Monza and 2017 Yas Marina [FIA Formula 2 round|Yas Marina] rounds, for Rapax Team2018
Merhi scored a full-time drive for the 2018 Formula 2 season with MP Motorsport. Before the Belgian round, he left the team and was replaced by their GP3 Series driver Dorian Boccolacci. He then joined Campos for the final two rounds of the season, replacing Roy Nissany.2022
Merhi made his Formula 2 return for Campos Racing at the Austrian round of 2022, replacing an injured Ralph Boschung. He retired from the sprint race, but scored third position in the feature race, coming back from 21st position. After his good result in Austria and the fact that Ralph Boschung was still injured, Merhi also competed in the Le Castellet round but he had to retire from both races. He also competed at the Budapest round.S5000 Tasman Series
In 2021, Merhi competed in the Australian single-seater championship, the S5000 Tasman Series, racing for Team BRM. He got 3 podiums, one of them a victory, thus proclaiming himself runner-up.Super GT
For 2022, Merhi would compete in Super GT for the Team LeMans in an Audi R8 LMS GT3 alongside drivers Yoshiaki Katayama and Shintaro Kawabata, making his debut at the second round of the championship at Fuji.Super Formula Lights
In September 2022, Merhi announced that he would compete in the final round at Okayama of the 2022 [Super Formula Lights].Formula One
Caterham (2014)
Merhi made his first appearance in a Formula One car for the Caterham team during practice for the 2014 Italian Grand Prix. It is believed that he was being evaluated for a race seat in place of Kamui Kobayashi, but had yet to qualify for an FIA Super Licence.Marussia (2015)
On 9 March 2015, the Manor Marussia team announced that Merhi would drive in the, alongside Britain's Will Stevens. However, Marussia did not compete in Australia due to a technical problem. In the Malaysian Grand Prix Merhi competed in his first Formula One race despite problems to his teammate Stevens' car. Merhi failed to set a lap time within 107% of the fastest time in Q1, but the race stewards allowed Merhi to start the race. Merhi finished in 15th place, three laps down on race winner Sebastian Vettel. In the Chinese Grand Prix, Merhi finished in 16th place behind his teammate Stevens. In Bahrain and Spain Merhi also finished behind Stevens. However, in the Monaco Grand Prix Merhi finished in 16th ahead of Stevens. In the Canadian Grand Prix, Merhi qualified ahead of Stevens and would start in 16th thanks to penalties to Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen. As well as that, Jenson Button failed to set a lap time in qualifying because of an engine issue. In the race, Merhi was a minute ahead of Stevens but on lap 56, he was forced to retire due to a drive-shaft problem. It was the first time that Merhi failed to finish a Formula One race that he started, but he remained ahead of Stevens in the Drivers' Championship. In Austria, Merhi finished in 14th position, three laps behind race winner Nico Rosberg. Merhi was dropped in favour of Alexander Rossi for five of the last seven Grands Prix of 2015, the exceptions being Russia and Abu Dhabi, before taking a subsequent demotion to Formula E in 2017 and Formula 2 in 2018.Development driver (2019-2020)
For 2019, Merhi revealed that he was working with an F1 team as a development driver, but his contract prevented him from revealing which team he was working with. Merhi continued to work as a development driver for 2020.Formula E
In April 2017, it was announced Merhi would be joining the series for the fourth season. However, he did not sign with any team.Merhi returned to Formula E in April 2023, partaking in the rookies' driver test in Berlin with Mahindra Racing.
Mahindra Racing (2023)
2022-23 season
In May 2023, it was confirmed that Merhi will replace the departing Oliver Rowland for the 2023 Jakarta ePrix. Having been only under a contract for three races, it was confirmed that he would see out the remainder of the season with the team. Merhi was not retained by the team for the 2023–24 season.Racing record
Career summary
Complete Formula Renault 2.0 Italia results
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | DC | Points |
| 2007 | Jenzer Motorsport | VAL1 1 5 | VAL1 2 14 | VAL2 1 10 | VAL2 2 5 | SPA 1 1 | SPA 2 5 | VAL 1 8 | VAL 2 5 | MIS 1 4 | MIS 2 4 | MUG 1 Ret | MUG 2 DSQ | MNZ 1 2 | MNZ 2 5 | 4th | 232 |
Complete Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 results
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | DC | Points |
| 2007 | Jenzer Motorsport | ZOL 1 13 | ZOL 2 10 | NÜR 1 Ret | NÜR 2 5 | HUN 1 21 | HUN 2 15 | DON 1 16 | DON 2 Ret | MAG 1 16 | MAG 2 9 | EST 1 9 | EST 2 28 | CAT 1 11 | CAT 2 6 | 18th | 16 |
| 2008 | Epsilon Euskadi | SPA 1 7 | SPA 2 Ret | SIL 1 3 | SIL 2 5 | HUN 1 3 | HUN 2 6 | NÜR 1 1 | NÜR 2 2 | LMS 1 1 | LMS 2 3 | EST 1 2 | EST 2 7 | CAT 1 8 | CAT 2 28† | 4th | 108 |
Complete Formula Renault 2.0 WEC results
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | DC | Points |
| 2008 | Epsilon Euskadi | NOG 1 3 | NOG 2 2 | DIJ 1 2 | DIJ 2 2 | VAL 1 2 | VAL 2 4 | LEM 3 | EST 1 3 | EST 2 1 | SPA 1 1 | SPA 2 2 | MAG 1 1 | MAG 2 3 | CAT 1 3 | CAT 2 3 | 2nd | 184 |
Complete GP3 Series results
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | DC | Points |
| 2010 | ATECH CRS GP | CAT FEA | CAT SPR | IST FEA | IST SPR | VAL FEA 3 | VAL SPR 2 | SIL FEA Ret | SIL SPR 19 | HOC FEA 16 | HOC SPR Ret | HUN FEA Ret | HUN SPR 22 | SPA FEA 2 | SPA SPR 22 | MNZ FEA 6 | MNZ SPR 4 | 6th | 26 |
Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters results
| Year | Team | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Pos | Points |
| 2012 | Persson Motorsport | DTM AMG Mercedes C-Coupé | HOC 18 | LAU 16 | BRH 17 | SPL 12 | NOR 13 | NÜR Ret | ZAN 11 | OSC 14 | VAL Ret | HOC 15 | NC | 0 |
| 2013 | HWA Team | DTM AMG Mercedes C-Coupé | HOC 10 | BRH 16 | SPL 20 | LAU 10 | NOR 7 | MSC 14 | NÜR 19 | OSC 14 | ZAN Ret | HOC 2 | 15th | 26 |
Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | Pos | Points |
| 2014 | Zeta Corse | MNZ 1 2 | MNZ 2 9 | ALC 1 6 | ALC 2 6 | MON 1 9 | SPA 1 Ret | SPA 2 13 | MSC 1 4 | MSC 2 1 | NÜR 1 2 | NÜR 2 1 | HUN 1 1 | HUN 2 2 | LEC 1 5 | LEC 2 4 | JER 1 Ret | JER 2 Ret | 3rd | 183 |
| 2015 | Pons Racing | ALC 1 Ret | ALC 2 9 | MON 1 | SPA 1 Ret | SPA 2 Ret | HUN 1 2 | HUN 2 7 | RBR 1 DSQ | RBR 2 EX | SIL 1 | SIL 2 | NÜR 1 | NÜR 2 | BUG 1 | BUG 2 | JER 1 | JER 2 | 14th | 26 |
Complete Formula One results
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | WDC | Points |
| 2014 | Caterham F1 Team | Caterham CT05 | Renault Energy F12014 1.6 V6 t | AUS | MAL | BHR | CHN | ESP | MON | CAN | AUT | GBR | GER | HUN | BEL | ITA TD | SIN | JPN TD | RUS TD | USA | BRA | ABU | – | – |
| Manor Marussia F1 Team | Marussia MR03B | Ferrari 059/3 1.6 V6 t | AUS DNP | MAL 15 | CHN 16 | BHR 17 | ESP 18 | MON 16 | CAN Ret | AUT 14 | GBR 12 | HUN 15 | BEL 15 | ITA 16 | SIN | JPN | RUS 13 | USA | MEX | BRA | ABU 19 | 19th | 0 |
Complete FIA Formula 2 Championship results
Complete European Le Mans Series results
| Year | Entrant | Class | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Rank | Points |
| 2021 | G-Drive Racing | LMP2 | Aurus 01 | Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 | CAT | RBR 3 | LEC 10 | MNZ 6 | SPA | ALG | 14th | 26 |
Complete Super Formula Lights results
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | Pos | Points |
| 2022 | B-Max Racing Team | FUJ 1 | FUJ 2 | FUJ 3 | SUZ 1 | SUZ 2 | SUZ 3 | AUT 1 | AUT 2 | AUT 3 | SUG 1 | SUG 2 | SUG 3 | MOT 1 | MOT 2 | MOT 3 | OKA 1 9 | OKA 2 Ret | OKA 3 9 | 14th | 0 |
Complete Super GT results
| Year | Team | Car | Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | DC | Points |
| 2022 | Team LeMans | Audi R8 LMS Evo II | GT300 | OKA | FUJ 14 | SUZ 18 | FUJ 16 | SUZ 5 | SUG 16 | AUT 20 | MOT 13 | 26th | 6 | |
| 2023 | Team LeMans | Audi R8 LMS Evo II | GT300 | OKA 21 | FUJ 7 | SUZ WD | FUJ 3 | SUZ Ret | SUG 3 | AUT 15 | MOT 3 | 9th | 37 | |
| 2024 | Team LeMans | Ferrari 296 GT3 | GT300 | OKA 10 | FUJ 13 | SUZ 3 | FUJ 9 | SUG Ret | AUT 8 | MOT 9 | SUZ 5 | 10th | 28 | |
| 2025 | Velorex | Ferrari 296 GT3 | GT300 | OKA DSQ | FUJ 1 | SEP 13 | FS1 15 | FS2 | SUZ 18 | SUG 12 | AUT 5 | MOT Ret | 15th | 43.5 |
‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.
Driver did not take part in this sprint race, points are still awarded for the teammate's result.
* Season still in progress.
Complete Formula E results
| Year | Team | Chassis | Powertrain | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Pos | Points |
| 2022–23 | Mahindra Racing | Formula E Gen3 | Mahindra M9Electro | MEX | DRH | DRH | HYD | CAP | SAP | BER | BER | MCO | JAK 18 | JAK 17 | POR Ret | RME 12 | RME Ret | LDN 15 | LDN 20 | 23rd | 0 |