Ocon will have to beat Pérez in 2018 to please Wolff and Mercedes
Author of a convincing season in 2017, Esteban Ocon will have to raise his level to beat his teammate Sergio Pérez at Force India and to be able to claim a place at Mercedes.
Nurtured by Mercedes for years, the Frenchman Esteban Ocon has been placed at Force India to learn Formula 1 and show his potential.
The least we can say is that the native of Evreux distinguished himself in 2017, both in his performances and in his strong on-track battles with teammate Sergio Pérez. A tense situation that sometimes aggravated Toto Wolff, the Mercedes Sporting Director, who kept a close eye on his protégé: “What bothers us are these intra-team rivalries that end with two damaged cars,” the Austrian told our colleagues from *Autosport*. “This applies not only to Esteban but also to Checo [Pérez]. As a team director, I’m really annoyed by this,” Wolff continues.
However, Ocon’s performances have not gone unnoticed by Wolff and Mercedes, who nonetheless wish for the Frenchman to take a step up in 2018 so that he could potentially claim a seat within the world champion team in the relatively near future: « Esteban played very well against a very strong Sergio Perez. In 2018, he will need to move to the next stage and improve these performances. He is incredibly consistent, makes few mistakes, and is fast. He will need to develop further in this regard and outperform Perez. » concluded Wolff.
