ESTEBAN OCON THE VICTIM OF SILLY SEASON

Silly season in the F1 paddock seems to be drawing to close with drivers finally starting to slot into position in the remaining few seats left on the 2019 grid. One hot topic of discussion is the quite dumbfounded situation Esteban Ocon finds himself. For one the shining young talents of F1 to be find themselves without a seat for next year its is a major hazard sign that F1 needs to change.

To understand the issue of Ocon being on the sidelines next season it would first be a good idea to looks at the factors that have forced Ocon into this situation. Ocon is a Mercedes academy contracted young driver. Ocon not having the financial backing to make his way up to F1 has been guided through the Mercedes academy to get him F1 ready. However even though Mercedes has nursed Ocon career it is beginning to become apparent that Ocon career is starting to suffer thanks to his ties with Mercedes. Mercedes competitors don't want a Mercedes employee inside the car due to the fear of giving up any competitive advantage they may hold over the German marque.

Like discussed before Ocon even though he has a large amount of driving talent he isn't so blessed when it comes to financial backing. This issue is magnified when the only real possible seat left for Ocon to take is the Williams seat. However Williams has expressed it needs its drivers to bring sponsorship money for the team to survive so it is unlikely that Williams will take Ocon on.

So what can F1 and the teams do ensure that talents like Ocon are not lost in the future. Well the most worrying thing about this whole debacle is that there doesn't seem to be a quick fix insight. Some of the top teams in the sport have flirted with the idea of introducing third cars. However this is something I don't agree with as F1 has always been two cars per teams and a tradition i would like to upheld. Having third cars being thrown into the fray has the potential to create some major political sticky points within the F1 circus. Would the third cars be eligible for points? Who can drive the third car?. I would only ever support the third car option if all the team ran third cars but this is close to impossible to bring to reality as most the teams on the grid a financially struggling to run two cars.

So what do i believe needs to happen to ensure F1 bring the best drivers to grid in the future? I believe F1 needs more teams, now i know this is easier said than done but this option would also solve F1's increasing financial issue that are beginning to rain havoc on the majority of the grid. It was only last month that Force India went into administration, a team that came fourth in the constructors championship last year. F1 needs to reduce and once it does this the sport can start to be more affordable and attractive to independent privateer teams. It has become quite apparent that the major manufacturers are not attracted to the sport anyway so why not target privateers instead. F1 seems to have a stigma against privateer teams but people forget what these teams can become just look at Williams and Mclaren to of the most historic and prestigious racing brands on the planet.