Williams’ Deputy Team Principal Claire Williams says the squad would be “crazy” not to be considering Esteban Ocon for a 2019 race seat.
Mercedes protégé Ocon graduated to Formula 1 mid-2016 with Manor and switched to Force India the following season, where he has emerged as a regular points scorer.
Ocon’s future with the team was thrown into doubt after its acquisition by Lawrence Stroll, father of Williams racer Lance, and the youngster is poised to join Sergio Perez for 2019.
Mercedes thought it had reached a deal for Ocon to be placed at Renault, only for the manufacturer to swoop and sign Daniel Ricciardo, by which time talks with McLaren had fallen through.
Ocon has already spoken of his acceptance that a 2019 sabbatical may be on the cards, but Williams revealed the Frenchman is on its short list as a potential team-mate for rookie George Russell.
“We are still doing a lot of evaluation work," Williams told Sky Sports.
"It's a short short-list. We're very happy with the drivers we are evaluating and it will not take us a long time to make that final decision.
“Of course Esteban is in the mix. We would be crazy not to be looking at him.”
Ocon took to social media to congratulate fellow Mercedes-backed youngster Russell, commenting: Congratulations to George for his F1 promotion! Well deserved, and great news for our sport!"
Incumbent Sergey Sirotkin and reserve Robert Kubica are understood to be in contention to partner Russell.
Sirotkin has scored just a solitary point this year – which remains provisional due to Haas’ appeal against Romain Grosjean’s exclusion in Italy – with his debut having coincided with Williams’ slump down the competitive order.
Kubica, meanwhile, accepted a test/reserve role after missing out on a race seat and has had a handful of outings in the FW41, the next of which is scheduled to be FP1 in Abu Dhabi.
Discussion about this post