Nineteen-year-old German Pascal Wehrlein has been appointed reserve driver for the dominant Mercedes Formula One team after becoming the youngest winner in the German Touring Car championship (DTM).

Mercedes announced the appointment a day after the teenager won from pole position for Mercedes in a DTM race at the Lausitzring and only four days after his first test in a grand prix car.

The DTM championship has now been decided, with Germany’s Marco Wittmann winning for BMW with two races to spare.

Wehrlein’s new F1 role means he will attend this weekend’s Singapore GP and future races as a potential replacement should championship leader Nico Rosberg or Britain’s 2008 champion Lewis Hamilton be unable to race.

Wehrlein has already worked with the team this season, completing more than 30 days in the F1 simulator and driving more than 12,000 km at the wheel of the virtual F1 W05 Hybrid car.

He drove a Formula One car for the first time at Portugal’s Algarve circuit last Thursday when he tested the 2012 Mercedes and completed 500km.

“Pascal has a bright future ahead of him and we are excited to have him onboard,” said Mercedes motorsport head Toto Wolff.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.