Mercedes may have been left surprised by Lewis Hamilton’s departure at the start of the year, but they’ve already narrowed down their shortlist of replacements.
When the news broke, a lot of drivers would have suddenly been contacting their management to see if they could put themselves in the frame to sign for Mercedes.
Journalist Mark Hughes was speaking on The Race Podcast about one driver who may have believed he was in Toto Wolff’s thinking.
Mercedes aren’t the power that they used to be a few years ago, which has played a key part in Lewis Hamilton’s thinking about his future.
George Russell is willing to stick by the team and will see himself as the incumbent number-one driver once Hamilton moves on – unless Wolff secures his top target for 2025.
Esteban Ocon is one driver who would have considered himself to be in the frame to step up into Hamilton’s Mercedes seat, but Hughes believes there’s zero chance of that happening.
It follows on from Martin Brundle saying last week that he doesn’t believe the 141-race driver will ever be of interest to a top team.
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Esteban Ocon has ‘zero chance’ of earning a Mercedes seat
There were two key incidents at the start of the Monaco Grand Prix with the first ultimately playing a major role in Charles Leclerc’s victory.
Sergio Perez’s collision with both Haas cars brought out the red flag, allowing teams to change their tyres and Leclerc to lead a 77-lap procession around the streets of Monte Carlo.
The other crash involved both Alpine cars and team principal Bruno Famin’s comments created even more headlines than the expensive shunt after the first corner.
Esteban Ocon was warned of serious consequences, via The Race, for his actions after attempting an ambitious move on teammate Pierre Gasly.
His car was sent pirouetting into the air as he caught Gasly’s back wheel and the damage ruled him out of the rest of the race.
Speculation began to mount that reserve driver Jack Doohan might replace Ocon for the Canadian Grand Prix, although that’s since been dismissed.
Ocon’s rashness and poor relationship with his teammates have been a common trend throughout his F1 career.
Hughes believes this is one of the reasons why Ocon has ‘zero chance’ of driving for Mercedes next season.
He’s still on Toto Wolff’s books and the Mercedes team principal has plans to place him at another team on the grid in 2025.
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Esteban Ocon’s 2025 Mercedes chances assessed
Hughes: “There’s always been a little bit of friction around Esteban [Ocon] and I think it’s partly the tough way he’s had to come up.
“He’s a natural fighter but I think in terms of integrating with teams and getting on with everyone, there seems to be a trait.
“If he was getting into a car and blowing every teammate off he ever had by half a second then that wouldn’t matter, that would be tolerated.
“He’s a good driver, he’s at his best an extremely good driver but I would say overall this season he absolutely should be in F1, but he hasn’t done enough for any team to say we must have this driver, it’s absolutely essential we keep this driver.
“And so, if it’s creating problems within the team, I think it could limit his potential and I’ve never seen him as a candidate for a top team.
“Earlier in the season when Lewis [Hamilton] announced he was leaving Mercedes, people were quick, including Esteban himself, to link himself up with that possibility.
“I always thought there was zero chance, absolutely no way he’s going to Mercedes and there’s a reason he wasn’t put there long before.”
Mercedes have two-man shortlist to choose from
Mercedes appear to only have two candidates to replace Lewis Hamilton next year – Max Verstappen and Kimi Antonelli.
Verstappen is Wolff’s top choice and is willing to offer him a deal that wasn’t even on the table for Hamilton.
However, he looks almost certain to stay at Red Bull while Antonelli continues to impress in tests behind the scenes.
The Italian teenager hasn’t blown away the competition in Formula 2 this year.
That might not matter though with the Mercedes board convinced he could be the best replacement for Hamilton.
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