Horner: Mercedes should've gambled on Ocon

Esteban Ocon could be left without a seat for next season in a turn of unfortunate events which has left him scrambling to try and continue his F1 adventure next season.

However, if it was up to Christian Horner, Ocon would’ve been promoted to Mercedes for next season.

Red Bull have a history of believing in youth and promoting their young drivers, resulting in varying levels of success.

Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen can all be considered successful promotions, although Daniil Kvyat is perhaps an example of promoting a driver too soon.

Pierre Gasly is the next driver to face the Red Bull test, and Horner, the team boss says that Ocon was worth a promotion, encouraging other teams to take a gamble on youth.

“It’s very easy to go with something known," he told Motorsport.com. "And there’s far more perceived risk in taking an unknown quantity or a junior, and I think we’ve demonstrated on numerous occasions that it pays off.

“We’ve had a very successful junior programme, and Red Bull has a junior team, and has invested in that. It’s paid dividends with Seb, Daniel and Max, and we’ll see with Pierre Gasly [who replaces Ricciardo in 2019].

"And it’s given numerous others opportunities, such as Carlos Sainz.”

It would be a massive shame if a driver with the talent of Ocon is missing from the grid next year, but Mercedes seem very comfortable with Valtteri Bottas supporting Lewis Hamilton well this season, and maybe Mercedes would prefer to keep it that way and not have a young challenger for Hamilton.