Mercedes maintain 100% trust in Valtteri Bottas

Toto Wolff has stressed his Mercedes team have full faith in Valtteri Bottas despite win draught in 2018. During the interview, he constantly confirmed that Esteban Ocon is an option for the 2020 season.

Ocon will miss out on a drive in 2019 which wasn't expected to be the case when Mercedes renewed Bottas' contract.

"Yes, of course, Esteban is a factor for us in the future. We have options for Esteban for 2020, but of course, he might also be an option for Mercedes. It depends how the season pans out in Mercedes and how Valtteri goes," Wolff told Crash.

"Still, we haven't lost any of our trust in Valtteri. We are 100 per cent behind him because there is trust within our drivers because if we wouldn't be behind him, we might as well make the change now. But we don't."

"We think that he's our man, and then obviously Esteban is in the starting blocks because he's keen to drive that car."

Past the half-way stage, Bottas played a key part in Hamilton's World Championship victory. Even Wolff himself labelled him as Hamilton's wingman.

"I think that for any driver it's very difficult to overcome a situation where you need to back your teammate for a drivers' championship," added Wolff.