If Niki will return to the paddock of course after his latest health battle...wunderkind wrote: ↑14 Sep 2018, 17:45I think Toto and Mercedes should pay Williams to take on both Ocon and Russell. But I do understand having four drivers on the grid will be a major distraction for Toto. I'm sure Ocon and Russell are mature enough, but I think Niki can play a bigger role in coaching Ocon and Russell like Jochen Neerpasch or Jochen Mass did for Schumacher/Wendlinger/Frentzen.Raleigh wrote: ↑12 Sep 2018, 20:25Ocon and Russel would be a fantastic line-up for Williams, unfortunately the team needs money, Sirotkin has $15m a year sponsorship and Mazepin is eyeing an F1 seat with enough backing that his father was competing with Lawrence Stroll to buy out Force India.
I can see Toto being able to swing one seat, but two is very unlikely.
The first priority is getting Ocon a seat in F1 with a friendly team for Mercedes I think, Williams seems to be an obvious choice and good for the grid. Then Ocon can replace Bottas the year after and Ocon is in a good position if or when Hamilton retires (from Mercedes). Russel can then take the open spot at Williams and possibly move up for the vacant seat at Mercedes in 2021 or somewhere.
I know it looks bad for Ocon and Wehrlein hasn't been the best example, but so far, Mercedes likes to put their own talent in their cars, don't forget, when they joined F1 all the way back in 94 or something, the first thing they did was to put Wendlinger in the Sauber and at their return in 2010 there were three old Mercedes juniors at the team (Heidfeld, Rosberg en Schumacher) and Hamilton is from their program as well. I remember when Alberts was part of their program and one of the consultancy jobs I had was with one of his sponsors from the junior classes. When he became second in DTM and he got an offer to drive F1, Haug sat him down: if you stay with Mercedes we'll make sure you'll get a good career, with a good possibility of F1, if you leave now, we're done.
Mercedes looks further away then next season, Ocon has to be patient. His time will come for sure.