Alpine’s Esteban Ocon has had an interesting F1 career so far. At one point, he was even left without a seat in the sport but he is now in his second year with his current team. As a former member of Mercedes’ driver program, he was at one point seen as one of the drivers being groomed to drive for Mercedes in the future. However, that role has now been assumed by Williams’ George Russell. With the contracts of both of Mercedes’ current drivers Mercedes expiring at the end of this year, team principal Toto Wolff has to keep an eye out for his options and he has now revealed if Ocon, who is also one of the drivers he manages, still features in the team’s plans while speaking to Motorsport Link to poll: https://www.youtube.com/post/Ugxg1-kSklopz5vEN9Z4AaABCQ 0:00 - Is Toto Wolff Considering Esteban Ocon As A Future Mercedes Driver? 1:39 - Fast Feed I'm your host Dillon Shelley and first up on Formula World: Is Toto Wolff Considering Esteban Ocon As A Future Mercedes Driver? Wolff began by stating the obvious “Esteban has a link with us as a driver, but is also a full time Renault or Alpine driver and we have a very good relationship with Alpine” He then explained why it is a bit of a strange situation “So obviously Valtteri is the driver today, and Lewis is the driver today, and what will be next year will be next year. It’s a little bit of a weird situation because he’s been a Mercedes junior for a long time, and he is an Alpine works driver now. That's a fact” He also elaborated on why Alpine is a good fit for Ocon “I think the situation is good for him there. He's growing, he's putting in the performances. He's French. All that is very much the stars aligning” He summed up his words by revealing the circumstances under which he will consider Ocon as a possible replacement if they end up needing a new driver “I think it needs to be Laurent [Rossi, Alpine CEO] and Esteban's call first, how to continue, before we start to give an opinion” Fast Feed Former F1 driver turned pundit Martin Brundle has implied “that the Red Bull is highly tuned to [Max] Verstappen's preferences, driving style and formidable car control” This is evidenced by the fact that “Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon and now [Sergio] Perez have all relatively floundered” He added that “Sergio's head may be wiser and more experienced, but he'll need to lean on every single element of that now to play his essential role and not crumble” McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo has revealed that “in early 2016, Lewis [Hamilton] posted a video on Instagram hitting pads” and Ricciardo was training in a similar manner as well So, when” they saw each other again, Ricciardo asked him if they should “do a charity fight” But Lewis “didn’t bite on that one so” Daniel “was a little sad” Former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer has suggested that “it will be how the Spanish Grand Prix unfolded, that will be demoralizing for Verstappen” Alpine’s Fernando Alonso thinks that “it’s impressive what” teammate Esteban Ocon is “achieving now” He feels that Ocon “is in very good form and, at the moment, fully integrated into the team” He added that he is giving “one hundred percent, but that's not enough to be at that level at the moment” as Ocon has outqualified him in three out of the four races so far He also “anticipated this a little bit” and pointed out how “when Carlos [Sainz] came to Renault, he was not as fast as [Nico] Hulkenberg” Similarly, “Daniel [Ricciardo] was arguably slower than Nico in 2019 and he was very good in 2020, his second year” He added that he is “trying to get this done as soon as possible, but” he’s “not too worried” “It's going to come very quickly because in Imola and Portimao” they “crossed the line together” Retired F1 world champion Mika Hakkinen feels that “Mercedes is way ahead in terms of strategy” “Not only is the car fast enough to compete with the very strong Red Bull, but the team is on top of their work with the strategy calls” Hakkinen added that “Hamilton's and Verstappen's skills aside, it's Mercedes' planning that punishes their rivals” Should Ocon be considered as an option for Mercedes in 2022?