Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff admits Esteban Ocon is poised for 2020 but currently Valtteri Bottas is still their guy.
The Frenchman has had to take a reserve driver role at the Brackley-based squad for next season after being the victim of the Stroll takeover at Force India.
After a difficult year, however, which saw Bottas fail to win a race, some believe Mercedes is simply honouring the contract signed with the Finn for 2019 before promoting Ocon.
“Yes, of course, Esteban is a factor for us in the future,” Wolff told ESPN.
“We have options for Esteban for 2020, but of course he might also be an option for Mercedes. It depends how the season pans out in Mercedes and how Valtteri goes.”
Asked why he doesn’t simply give Ocon the seat now if the 22-year-old is the likely long-term choice for the team, the Austrian made it clear.
“Still, we haven’t lost any of our trust in Valtteri,” Toto stated. “We are 100 per cent behind him because there is trust within our drivers.
“If we wouldn’t be behind him, we might as well make the change now. But we don’t. We think that he’s our man, and then obviously Esteban is in the starting blocks because he’s keen to drive that car.”
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There is also a certain sense at Mercedes that much of Bottas’ poor performance in 2018 was the result of the difficult situation he was placed in as the ‘wingman’.
“I think that for any driver it’s very difficult to overcome a situation where you need to back your teammate for a Drivers’ Championship,” Wolff declared.
“That is normal when you are taking away the single most important motivation for a racing driver and we have seen that effect in Valtteri last year after Spa and this year after Monza.
“As long as he’s in the hunt for the championship, he’s going to drive at a very high level. I don’t think it makes a difference whether he won a race or not because he knows that after the summer he was basically only second in line to win the race.
“He would have won in Sochi maybe. So on paper he should have had at least two or three wins this season.”