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Formula 1: Ranking the chances of the 4 primary Mercedes candidates for 2020

By Asher Fair

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 17: Race winner Valtteri Bottas of Finland and Mercedes GP and third placed Max Verstappen of Netherlands and Red Bull Racing celebrate on the podium during the F1 Grand Prix of Australia at Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit on March 17, 2019 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 17: Race winner Valtteri Bottas of Finland and Mercedes GP and third placed Max Verstappen of Netherlands and Red Bull Racing celebrate on the podium during the F1 Grand Prix of Australia at Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit on March 17, 2019 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images) /
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ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – NOVEMBER 23: Esteban Ocon of France driving the (31) Sahara Force India F1 Team VJM11 Mercedes (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)
ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – NOVEMBER 23: Esteban Ocon of France driving the (31) Sahara Force India F1 Team VJM11 Mercedes (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images) /

No. 31. Mercedes reserve driver, Mercedes. ESTEBAN OCON. #3.

Esteban Ocon was almost immediately named Mercedes’ reserve driver for the 2019 season after it was all but confirmed that he would not have a full-time ride this year after spending the last two seasons driving for Sahara Force India-turned-Racing Point Force India.

A few months after a Lawrence Stroll-led consortium purchased Force India last summer, Stroll’s son, Lance Stroll, was named Ocon’s replacement starting in the 2019 season, a driver confirmation that was pretty much all but guaranteed all along.

As a result, the 22-year-old Frenchman has been heavily rumored as Bottas’s replacement for the 2020 season and perhaps even for the 2019 season depending on how the 29-year-old Finn performs throughout this year.

While Ocon finished behind teammate Sergio Perez in the driver standings in both of his seasons driving for Force India and he and Perez were involved in fairly frequent run-ins with one another, something that Mercedes will simply not tolerate, he still has a great chance to drive for Mercedes in the 2020 season given the fact that he is now their reserve driver, especially if Bottas does not do enough to prove to the team that he deserves to retain his ride beyond this year.

That said, recent news surrounding one of the other top candidates to drive for Mercedes next year caused Ocon’s odds of landing this ride to take a slight dip even if Bottas ends up not returning to the Silver Arrows next year.

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