Mercedes will wait until August to make a final decision on whether it plans to renew Valtteri Bottas’ contract for the 2020 Formula 1 season, says team boss Toto Wolff.
Bottas has bounced back from a disappointing 2018 campaign – where he failed to win a single race – to put himself in a strong position to remain with Mercedes next year.
The Finn has contributed to the Brackley-based outfit’s incredible run of success in the first half of this year, winning twice in Melbourne and Baku, as well as scoring more pole positions than any other driver this season.
However, there is the possibility reserve driver Esteban Ocon could still be in the frame for the seat alongside Lewis Hamilton as the Frenchman looks to return to the grid next year.
Speaking ahead of this weekend’s German Grand Prix, Wolff said, as quoted by Motorsport.com: “We want him to end the season before the shutdown in a good place and put in two solid performances in Hockenheim and Budapest, and then spend some time thinking about the driver line-up for 2020 and beyond.
“It is pretty unusual to announce drivers in July. If you want to take all the time, you properly need to assess and you can even drag it into the winter like we have seen in some other teams and it was a standard in the past.
“For us it is not only about making the right decision for next year but looking ahead and this is why we agreed that we will take the decision in August going forward, but it doesn’t necessarily mean we will announce it in August.”
Pressed to give clarification on Ocon’s future, Wolff admitted rival teams were keeping tabs on the 22-year-old but stressed it would “carefully” take into consideration the best option for the team and for Ocon.
“As we all know it was an unfortunate situation last year that Esteban fell between the chairs,” Wolff explained. “He could have chosen between two seats and in the end nothing came out.
“From our perspective everyone knows about his driving capabilities for Mercedes. Valtteri is showing some very strong performances and merits the seat but equally Esteban has shown that in the past and is a great addition to the team.
“He contributes a lot a lot behind closed doors, he drives the sim overnight on race weekends, he comes in here Saturday and gives us input and he is a great kid overall.
“Putting a Mercedes young driver in the car would be interesting as well. Having said that, there is interest for Esteban among other teams and we need to carefully make a decision for ourselves and with the other interested parties, not only for our own benefit but also for Esteban’s benefit.
“If it would be that we were taking a decision in favour of Valtteri it clearly also means that somebody else would continue to develop him [Ocon] and would mean we would lose our hand for a year or two or more on Esteban. These are the consequences of that decision.”
