German fit to race after missing Australia and China
Wednesday 12 April 2017 08:54, UK
Pascal Wehrlein will return to drive for Sauber at this weekend's Bahrain GP.
The German missed the season's opening two grands prix in Australia and China due to a "training deficit" caused by a back injury suffered in January's Race of Champions.
He was replaced by Ferrari reserve driver Antonio Giovinazzi in Melbourne and Shanghai but Sauber have confirmed Wehrlein will be back in the C36 car in Bahrain.
Sunday's race will be Wehrlein's first for Sauber, having joined the team at the start of 2017. He finished 13th in last year's race driving for now-defunct Manor.
Wehrlein suffered micro-fractures to his back in the January crash and missed the first winter test in Barcelona before taking part in the second.
But after missing weeks of training, the German withdrew from the Australian GP following Friday practice as he felt he was not fit enough to complete a race distance in F1 2017's more demanding cars.
In Wehrlein's absence, Giovinazzi finished 12th in Australia but crashed heavily in China in both qualifying and the race.
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