Mercedes boss Toto Wolff claims there was too much “risk” in pairing Esteban Ocon with Lewis Hamilton in 2020.
In the weeks before the summer break speculation was swirling that the Frenchman, who spent this past year as reserve driver having lost his seat at Racing Point, could replace the Finn who was struggling to maintain the form he had at the start of the season.
During August, however, it was decided to continue with the Finn for next year with Ocon making his comeback with Renault instead.
“The swinging argument for me was, putting Ocon against Hamilton, who has been with Mercedes for seven years and is at the peak of his game, is not good for him, especially after sitting out one year,” Wolff claimed.
Also Read:
- Ocon says ‘it’s a relief’ to be at Renault as he sets ambitious 2020 target
- Ocon brushes off his lack of racing in 2019 ahead of F1 return
“We might find the story exciting and probably he would have done well but there is only one guy who ever did well against a superstar and that was Lewis Hamilton himself [against Fernando Alonso at McLaren in 2007]. All the other drivers needed time.
“So I don’t want to risk his career and I don’t want to risk him trying to do something to win against Lewis. That was the tipping point.”
Interestingly, the Austrian’s final sentence there might just reveal a slightly bigger motivation for not wanting to put the young Frenchman up against the six-time world champion.
Having seen the tension caused by Charles Leclerc alongside Sebastian Vettel at Ferrari in 2019, Wolff will have been keen to avoid a similar situation at Mercedes and in his post-season comments, he acknowledged the support role Bottas is prepared to play.
“Whilst managing drivers you have to embrace the fact that they will pursue their dreams and their main target is going to win the Drivers’ Championship,” Wolff conceded.
“That can create some tension because not always these objectives are aligned to the team objectives.
“What I’m really proud of is that over all these years, we have always managed to get the drivers behind the team’s objective and behind Mercedes’ target to be one of the most successful sports teams in the world.
“Valtteri and Lewis work really well together. They have been pushing each other.
“This is a dynamic that is really positive for the team. In that respect, I believe that we have a sensational driver line-up going forward.”