Mercedes Will Not Interfere in Ocon’s Options for 2020

According to Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, the team will not interfere if a potential opportunity to return to F1 emerges for reserve driver Esteban Ocon.

Sadly for Ocon, the arrival of Lance Stroll culminated in him facing the chopping block. So, at the end of 2018, Racing Point fielded Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez for the current season.

However, he refused to let it get him down and the 22-year-old busied himself with simulator work for Mercedes. The Frenchman is also acting as the Silver Arrows outfit’s official reserve driver.

Ocon ambitions to return to the fray next season, possibly with Mercedes, although the prospect of Valtteri Bottas departing the team currently appears remote.

Depending on how Formula 1’s usual game of musical chairs develops over the second half of the year, logical destinations for Ocon would be Williams or a return to Racing Point, two Mercedes-affiliated outfits.

Paddock insiders also put Ocon at Renault, a team which he came close to signing with last summer before the French squad had a change of heart and hired Daniel Ricciardo.

However, a move to Renault would require Mercedes’ blessing, and Wolff, who also personally manages Ocon, believes such a resolution is possible.

“There is this perception that he is a Mercedes driver, so maybe we need to set the record straight and enable him to pursue his career in a way that respects the investment and the support that Mercedes has given him, and he respects that very much, but equally doesn’t close doors for him,” Wolff told Motorsport.com.

“I think if he drives for another team he is released anyway. He is not a Mercedes driver anymore because if you drive for another team you are signing a contract that you will deliver to the best of your abilities for the other team.”