Column: Mercedes should not be ridiculous like Red Bull have been
F1 News
- Bobby Vincent
With the news breaking earlier on Monday that Pierre Gasly and Alexander Albon will be doing a direct swap, with the former moving back to Toro Rosso and the latter being promoted to Red Bull following an impressive rookie season, we tell you exactly why Mercedes should not take a leaf out of the book of ruthlessness written by Helmut Marko.
We all know Marko is a brutal man, with a clear track record of firing underperforming drivers. Gasly hasn't performed very well this season, he'd be the first person to admit that, but what he needs is experience, and he should absolutely have had until the end of this season to prove his worth to a brand new team.
Now, they're bringing Albon in to Red Bull, and he is a fantastically talented driver, but it reeks of the same situation as when Gasly was announced as Daniel Ricciardo's replacement last year!
Mercedes have got a huge choice to make - they have an extremely talented driver in Esteban Ocon waiting on the sidelines - with Valtteri Bottas under immense pressure. It's a sort of similar situation to what Red Bull had, with Gasly clearly not at Max Verstappen's level; with the same applying for Bottas and his team-mate, Lewis Hamilton.
Granted, Mercedes are in a much more comfortable position than Red Bull because of its dominance, so Red Bull's decision can be understood - albeit a bit hasty - but the Silver Arrows are cruising to another constructors' title and why break what is a fantastic partnership in Bottas and Hamilton?
The only way I could understand if this partnership was going to break would be if Bottas wanted to get out of Mercedes to try and be the main man somewhere else; because no matter how well he does, he's always going to be second fiddle to the five-time world champion.
Ocon is a great driver and it's baffling how he's been allowed to just wait on the sidelines, not even drive a single practice session for Mercedes (yet), when he could be out getting some valuable experience. It'd be great to see Ocon back in Formula 1 next season, but Bottas does not deserve to be kicked out of his seat.
If someone comes in and challenges Hamilton, like Nico Rosberg did a few seasons ago, we saw him get very frustrated and tense that season, surely Mercedes wouldn't want to break what they have now.
Bottas is the best number two driver a team could ask for, his and Lewis' appreciation for each other is reminiscent of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen's days at Ferrari.
Don't be Red Bull, Mercedes.