Wolff: "We need to decide what we want to do in the future"

Toto Wolff has hinted at the possibility of Mercedes closing its junior driver programme due to a lack of available seats in F1. The Mercedes programme has the likes of Esteban Ocon, Pascal Wehrlein and George Russell in its ranks but currently no seats in 2019 for any of them.

Wolff explained that unless there is a drastic change between now and 2019, the future of the Mercedes junior programme looks limited. As silly season rolls on, fewer seats are available and Ocon's future looks to be heading that way of Wehrlein's, talented but with nowhere to go.

“There’s quite some interest behind George, but as it stands (we have) three really talented kids with the lack of opportunity,” Wolff is quoted as saying by Motorsportweek.

“This has come to a point now where we need to decide what we want to do in the future.

“Funding a junior (Formula 1) team is not an option because putting 80-90-100 million every year in a junior (Formula 1) team just to keep your young drivers in place is not what I would want to do.

“And on the other side if the drivers are stigmatised as Mercedes drivers it seems to be not the best selling proposition.

“Being a racer at heart I still feel that the best talent needs to be supported and developed and I hope we find a solution for these guys.

“If we can’t find a solution for these guys I would question the junior programme in the future, and then we go back to a pay driver model."

Other programmes such as Red Bull's has been fairly successful, bringing through the likes of Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo and most recently Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly, but they have been aided by a junior team in F1, Toro Rosso, a luxury Mercedes is seemingly refusing to afford.

“Today (we have) Red Bull, who have invented the programme and have been successful in the past, and being the main ones at the moment pushing forward, Ferrari have a junior programme and we have a junior programme and Renault have a junior programme, but if you can’t find a place for them in Formula 1 it doesn’t make a lot of sense and that would be a shame in terms of the driver level in F1.

“And I will discuss that with the board and with the management at the end of the year depending what the outcome is for George, Pascal and Esteban.”