Courtesy of Rio Haryanto

UK-based Manor Racing still expects Rio Haryanto to join the team as a driver for this year'€™s Formula One (F1) season, giving the 23-year-old an extra week to come up with the required guarantee fee.

Manor managing director Abdulla Boulsien had a closed meeting with Youth and Sports Minister Imam Nahrawi and Rio at the minister'€™s office in Jakarta on Thursday to discuss the issue.

The scheme for Rio to become Indonesia'€™s first driver to compete in the world'€™s most prestigious car racing tournament had been thrown into doubt in the wake of the Indonesian'€™s difficulties in garnering financial support.

But Rio reiterated on Wednesday that he was still on his way to the F1 track with Manor, for which the Indonesian camp has to pay an advance of ¤3 million (US$3.4 million) of the ¤15 million required by Manor.

'€œManor still wants me to join,'€ Rio told a press conference after the meeting.

'€œIt has given us another week to settle although in fact the [down payment] deadline for us is actually overdue,'€ said the Semarang-born racer, referring to Feb. 5 as the reported deadline for his side to hand over the down payment.

So far, Rio has reportedly pocketed commitments of financial support from state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina worth 5 million euros plus another Rp 100 billion ($7.4 million) from the Youth and Sports Ministry through the National Sports Council (KONI).

The disbursement of the funds has been hampered by bureaucratic delays.

Minister Imam promised to continue to seek more financial backers for Rio.

'€œWe will continue supporting Rio. We hope more parties will jump in to support him financially because what we'€™ve got now is not yet enough,'€ said Imam.

Meanwhile, AFP reported that Pascal Wehrlein will make his F1 debut in 2016 after taking the first of two vacant seats in the Manor team. The 21-year-old German driver has signed a one-year deal with Manor, which has recently started an engine partnership with Mercedes.

However, AFP has named two others drivers, neither of whom is Rio, as vying for the other seat in the team

'€œThe other seat is still up for grabs with Alexander Rossi and Will Stevens, who both raced for Manor Marussia last season, still in with chances of being offered new deals,'€ the Newswire said.

Previously known as Manor Marussia, the team has only picked up points in one race, the 2014 Monaco Grand Prix where the late Jules Bianchi finished ninth.

Rio started his racing career in 2008 when he took part in the Asian-based Asian Formula Renault Challenge, Formula Asia 2.0 and Formula BMW Pacific.

In 2009, he won the Formula BMW Pacific championship with 11 victories from 15 races.

At the age of 17, Rio qualified for a super license with F1 from Virgin F1 racing in a test in Abu Dhabi in 2010.

Aiming for the world of F1, Rio entered the GP3 Europe Series in 2010 through Manor Racing and finished the season with a win, a runner-up and a third place out of eight races.

In the 2011 GP3 Europe Series, Rio collected two wins, a runner-up, and a third place.

In 2012, Rio entered the GP2 Series, which is one level below F1, through Russia'€™s Marussia-Carlin racing team.

In his first GP2 season, Rio failed to make the podium but secured a single and fastest lap, securing 14th place in the championship at season'€™s end.

In the 2013 GP2 season, Rio made only one podium (runner-up) to wrap up 19th place after 11 races with Spain'€™s Barwa Addax team. In the 2014 season, Rio finished 15th with another single podium (third place) for Malaysia'€™s Caterham Racing.

In the 2015 season, Rio showed solid progress as he finished fourth after collecting three wins and two runners-up with Spain'€™s Campos Racing.

F1 teams are scheduled to have official pre-season tests on Feb. 22 while the 2016 season gets underway in Melbourne on March 20.

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