F1 News
Marko laughs at Wolff: "No driver has ever broken through before''
- GPblog.com
The departure of Sebastian Vettel creates doubt at Mercedes. Should it stick to the current line-up, should it choose for young and own talent or should it take advantage of this opportunity to enter a four-time world champion?
Toto Wolff already indicated in an earlier interview that they definitely want to look at the situation, as they can't ignore the developments surrounding Sebastian. Still, it is questionable whether Mercedes wants to choose a second big driver in the team, because between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton it didn't go so well either.
Mercedes talent
Mercedes also has two other talents on hold that will become very impatient when another outsider gets the seat. For example, in 2017 Valtteri Bottas was given preference over the Mercedes-junior Pascal Wehrlein, who eventually steered away, and the same Bottas has been seated for years at the expense of Esteban Ocon.
However, the Frenchman now has a seat at Renault until 2021, but George Russell is a bit less at ease. The Formula 2 champion had imagined a bit more at a debut in Formula 1 and is still stuck at the back of the grid for the time being. Helmut Marko has to laugh when Wolff talks about 'his talents'.
Marko laughs Mercedes out
''It's funny that Toto says they also look after their own young riders, because so far they've never had a talent break through in the first team. Of course it could still happen, but it hasn't for the time being'', cuts the Austrian to the big competitor at ORF.
A sneer or not, Marko is right. In 2010 Mercedes returned to Formula 1 with Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg behind the wheel. They also started the junior program, but so far we only saw Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, both of whom had no training from Mercedes. The question whether Mercedes will opt for talent in 2021 remains unanswered for the time being.