Esteban Ocon will be supported by Mercedes

If Max Verstappen is having a good start in F1, it should not be forgotten that he did not win the F3 championship last year. He was, in fact, clearly dominated by the Frenchman Esteban Ocon.

The Dutchman managed to make the most of the competition between Mercedes and Red Bull to bring him into their orbit. This is how he managed to secure a Formula 1 seat with Toro Rosso, even though he was not part of the energy drink’s young driver development program.

For Ocon, the support provided by Lotus, through the Gravity Sports Management structure, was halted when it was placed into voluntary liquidation at the request of the shareholder Promobe Finance SA, which holds one-third of the shares of Gravity Sport Management SA, alongside Genii Capital.

Mercedes has managed to attract a young driver with strong potential into its orbit. The young Norman’s program will be twofold this season as he aims to win the GP3 title while becoming a test and reserve driver for the official Mercedes team in DTM. To defend his chances in GP3, he will be able to compete within a structure he knows well, ART Grand Prix. Indeed, he competed in the 2013 Formula Renault 2.0 championship with the team of Frédéric Vasseur and Nicolas Todt.

Toto Wolff, the director of Mercedes Motorsport, stated: « Esteban is a highly talented young driver and one of the stars of the future. I am delighted that we have found a way to continue his relationship with Mercedes-Benz as we have a strong tradition of supporting the best young drivers with a view to their long-term potential. We will follow Esteban’s progress with great interest, and I hope this year will only be the first of a long series where we will be together. »

The young driver did not miss his debut in GP3 as he qualified in second position before winning his first race in the category.

With the participation of www.Racingbusiness.fr