It’s saddening to see such a talent as Esteban Ocon in the Mercedes pits, not driving the car but wearing headphones and being told to listen and learn.
Of course, we have been told that being there, listening and learning from a World Champion, is very useful for him …
We have also been told that ‘he’s doing a fantastic job in the simulator’…, but we all know that his place is in a race car and not in a simulator.
We all remember his performances in the Force India for two seasons and his qualifying sensation at the 2018 Belgian Grand Prix, where he qualified in 3rd position.
Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff, who took Ocon under his wings when the frenchman was in F3 and manages his career since then, refused to release him at the end of the 2018 season to either Renault or Red Bull, must have a plan for him.
Esteban has always declared, that the plan is to ‘definitely’ race in 2020, and that’s logical.
Being on the sidelines for a year is fine, but coming back after two years could be problematic.
You are quickly forgotten in Formula 1, and there is always another young up and coming star in the pipeline and grabbing the headlines.
Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas are each performing at the highest level this year, their car being after 6 races unbeaten, so for the moment there is no reason to replace one of them.
An opportunity could arise. If Bottas beats Hamilton to the 2019 title, the British champion could be tempted by a move to Ferrari.
Every driver dreams of wearing the red overalls once in his career, and Hamilton is no different. He has already achieved more than he had dreamed of, so the only thing that remains for him, is to further build his own personal legend.
And in his mind, this could only be achieved by joining the legendary Scuderia.
Is this the only chance for us to see Esteban Ocon at the wheel of a Formula 1 car next year ?
There must be different scenarios in Toto’s bright mind, one of them is to finally let him go to Renault or whoever in case no race seat would be available at Mercedes for next season, so let’s wait and see and trust him to not let his protégé down.
