Esteban Ocon Retained as Mercedes Junior in 2016

[Paul Jeffrey]

GP3 points leader and 2014 European F3 Champion Esteban Ocon has been retained in his role as a Mercedes junior driver for the 2016 season.

Heading into the final race of the season with a slender two point lead in the standings following a strong season in the Grand Prix supporting GP3 series, Frenchman Ocon again maintains his Formula One ties alongside his DTM duties next year.

Mercedes Executive Technical Director of Business, Toto Wolff, during Friday's team boss press conference in Abu Dhabi said,

"We have taken up the option on him because he has been with us following the DTM team for a while now. He's integrated well [at Mercedes] and he's doing a very good job in GP3. Having taken up Esteban, we are conscious that we have to find a suitable programme for both of them [Pascale Wehrlein & Esteban Ocon]. It could be a testing role, a Formula 1 role or a DTM role."​

Do you think Esteban Ocon is a future Grand Prix champion for Mercedes? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[4 8 15 16 23 42 108]

This guy has it all. Absolutely not understandable for me, why he is not supported properly to step up. His racing ability is outstanding.

 

[Ze German]

This guy has it all. Absolutely not understandable for me, why he is not supported properly to step up. His racing ability is outstanding.

Since Wehrlein wants to race GP2, if Mercedes allows this my guess is that Ocon will get Wehrlein's DTM seat.