Originally Posted by
truefan72
The problem is, all things considered, bottas is still 2nd in the championship. Mercedes is still leading the WCC by a huge margin and his pace, while sporadic, is still good enough for the race win here and there. Also the mercedes isn't as dominant as some would have you believe which is testament to Hamilton's skill more so than Bottas' shortcomings. I think that's where the tough decision lies. What would be the effect of putting Ocon in instead of Bottas? would the standings look any different? Would Ocon have 188 points before the summer break?
I could clearly see the logic with adding leclerc in the case of ferrari. Vettel seemed to be in decline and an extremely fast and talented young driver was the boost the team needed.
But Mercedes is coming off the back of 5 straight WCC and WDC years with their lead driver in the form of his life and a strong chance of winning this year's WDC and in position to challenge for next year's WDC and match Schumi as well. The team will be a contender until 2021. The stability is there, and both sides of the garage are GP winners. I think the fact that wolff managed ocon is more of a factor than an honest need for a driver switch. I am one of the hardest bottas critics out there, but i'm also very aware that he has done a solid job, all things considered, and especially has a teammate to already one of the all time greats currently in the form of his life. without leclerc side swiping him, it would probably have been a 1-3 finish for them today.
I'm not sure what Wolff and mercedes are going to do, but it would make more sense trying to get ocon into the williams seat for 2020 ( i think kubica is out) and then groom both he and russell to take over eventually at mercedes.