Valtteri Bottas has impressed a lot this season and put up a decent fight to his teammate, Lewis Hamilton. However, if rumours and Nico Rosberg are to be believed, it may not be enough to be retained next season.

The 2016 World Champion claimed that the Mercedes team would replace Bottas with Esteban Ocon. Nico Rosberg made the claims while speaking to RTL and revealed that he had an inside source on the matter.

Meanwhile, Ocon himself expects a verdict on his future to come during the August summer break.

Haas boss Gunther Steiner believes that Ocon holds the key to the 2020 driver market. Mercedes are even helping the French driver in his hunt for potential seats, possibly at Renault, Racing Point, Haas and Williams.

“We will see what will happen to me. I will have more answers after Budapest,” Ocon admitted to Canal Plus.

“There will be a lot of things going on for me. It’s clear that it’s going to be a break where my phone will be heating up a lot.”

“But as long as there are things happening and people talking about me, it’s a good thing.

“What I really hope for is to find a competitive car. My dream is always to win titles and races, so I want to come back as soon as possible.”

Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff himself has admitted that there are two prime candidates to partner Lewis Hamilton. Speaking to German newspaper Die Welt, he said, “We have a top driver in Valtteri, we are aware of that.”

“But we also have a young, talented driver in Ocon. He deserves a place in Formula 1 as well.”

“If there was only one good driver, it would be easy. But that’s not the way it is. They both deserve a chance at Mercedes.”