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Formula 1: 6 drivers who could sign with Toro Rosso for 2019

By Asher Fair

HOCKENHEIM, GERMANY - JULY 22: Pierre Gasly of France and Scuderia Toro Rosso driving the (10) Scuderia Toro Rosso STR13 Honda leads Brendon Hartley of New Zealand driving the (28) Scuderia Toro Rosso STR13 Honda (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images)
HOCKENHEIM, GERMANY - JULY 22: Pierre Gasly of France and Scuderia Toro Rosso driving the (10) Scuderia Toro Rosso STR13 Honda leads Brendon Hartley of New Zealand driving the (28) Scuderia Toro Rosso STR13 Honda (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images) /
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MONZA, ITALY – SEPTEMBER 01: Esteban Ocon of France driving the (31) Sahara Force India F1 Team VJM11 Mercedes (Photo by Charles Coates/Getty Images)
MONZA, ITALY – SEPTEMBER 01: Esteban Ocon of France driving the (31) Sahara Force India F1 Team VJM11 Mercedes (Photo by Charles Coates/Getty Images) /

Esteban Ocon

Esteban Ocon, like George Russell, is a Mercedes junior driver. He currently drives for Racing Point Force India, one of the other two Mercedes-powered teams in Formula 1, but his future there is in doubt. In fact, the 22-year-old Frenchman stated himself  before the Belgian Grand Prix that he will not be returning to the newly purchased team next year.

There are currently no drivers under contract to drive for Force India, but that is likely going to change in the near future. The team’s other current driver, Sergio Perez, will likely retain his seat with the team, as his backers were the ones who set the team into administration to protect them from the threat of a winding-up offer, thus allowed them to be purchased by a Lawrence Stroll-led consortium.

The other driver who will likely end up driving for Force India next year is current Williams Martini Racing driver Lance Stroll, the son of Lawrence Stroll who was the primary reason why the elder Stroll decided to purchase the team to begin with.

With the only other Mercedes-powered team aside of the factory team and Force India being Williams, the team that have been by far the slowest team on the grid this year, Mercedes would be better off loaning Esteban Ocon to Toro Rosso for a couple of seasons before hiring him to replace either Lewis Hamilton or Valtteri Bottas, who have both signed contracts to continue driving for the team through at least the 2019 season.

Ocon has had a successful Formula 1 career so far. After driving in the final nine races of the 2016 season for Manor Racing MRT and finishing in as high as 12th place, he has driven in 34 races as a full-time driver for Force India. He set the all-time Formula 1 record by finishing each of the first 27 races of his car.

Ocon has racked up 27 top 10 finishes, including career-high finishes of fifth place in the 2017 Spanish Grand Prix and the 2017 Mexican Grand Prix, in his Formula 1 career so far. So far this season, he has racked up eight top 10 finishes, including season-high sixth place finishes in the Monaco Grand Prix, the Austrian Grand Prix, the Belgian Grand Prix and the Italian Grand Prix. He currently sits in 10th in the driver standings.

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