Horner says Wolff could get Ocon a seat - for a price

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Red Bull boss Christian Horner says that Toto Wolff could secure Esteban Ocon's position in Formula 1 next season - providing he's willing to pay the price.

The Mercedes junior's position in the sport is looking increasingly at risk, if as expected he's ousted from Force India to make way for Lance Stroll in 2019.

Ocon had been hoping to move to Renault next year, but that avenue was closed off by the factory team successfully signing Daniel Ricciardo from Red Bull instead. It leaves Williams as one of the few possible places for Ocon next season.

"If Toto writes a cheque I'm sure he can get a seat in Williams," Horner told Sky Sports F1 in Singapore on Friday.

Williams are expected to retain Sergey Sirotkin in 2019, and current test and development driver Robert Kubica is in the running for the season seat. Another Mercedes protégé, Formula 2 front runner George Russell, is also in contention.

"I think the problem that Toto's got at the moment is that he's got talented drivers but there isn't a seat.

"That's going to be a real problem for those guys going into next year."

"There's three super talented kids, certainly two very strong ones I think," said Horner. "Ocon would be great to see in Formula 1 and George Russell.

Angry Wolff hints at 'hidden agendas and lies' in Ocon plight

"Toto might have to cut them free at the end of the day because it's a shame to see those guys not get a Formula 1 seat, just because of who they're contracted to.

Wolff has just faced up to the reality of exactly that situation, with the announcement on Friday that Mercedes is to cut ties with former Manor and Sauber driver Pascal Wehrlein.

"Unfortunately, we couldn't offer Pascal a competitive drive for next year," Wolff said.

He explained that severing ties with the German driver had been done "in his best interests" in order to "give him the best chance of securing an opportunity elsewhere."

Now the concern is that Ocon may face a similar uncertain future with the Silver Arrows.

Horner and Red Bull motorsports consultant Helmut marko have ruled out taking a Mercedes-affiliated driver at Toro Rosso, and Ocon is also unlikely to be considered for a spot at either Haas or Sauber which are Ferrari customer teams.

Wolff has complained that the tie-ups between teams is leading to "hidden agendas and lies" that endangers the future of talented young drivers like Ocon.

But Horner has defended Red Bull's decision to effectively blacklist young drivers with Mercedes links from consideration for a seat at the junior Toro Rosso squad.

"We've invested in the team," he explained. " We've made that commitment, we've made that investment, and it paid off with Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo, Max Verstappen, Pierre Gasly coming through.

"It's the only real way," Horner added.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.