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Originally Posted by Rtrorkt
zeke, interesting thoughts. Would be interested in hearing what others think. Watching the Drive to Survive episode on Force India, it seemed clear that Ocon was getting more out of the car than Perez. At one race, Bahrain last year I think, he had Force India starting 4th. That was above Red Bull, McLaren, Renault, etc. Listening to Will Buxton on that episode, it seemed clear that in his opinion Ocon was more mature and had more potential. I think I remember Ocon pretty much out qualifiying Perez pretty regularly, but Perez gets the ride in the new team owned by daddy Lance since he brings Mexican cell phone money.
LeClerc seems the new model of young driver, anti Verstappen. I think Ocon falls in that same category. Did he get a Mercedes development drive this year?
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I think in F1, right now, it's 90% car and 10% driver. At that level, all the drivers have a lot of talent, regardless of whether they bring money or not. The driver deals are done long before a team knows anything about how well its car will do for the season, so the thought that they might use a better driver that brings less money to pull the car up in the rankings and get more money at the end of the year probably doesn't happen. I'd wager they've all thought of it, though.
Ocon is the reserve driver for Mercedes this year.