Via SKY F1 --
Kubica to make F1 return in Belgium? Ocon to McLaren?
Now this is interesting.
Sky F1 expert Mark Hughes has beautifully summarised a bonkers driver market in his latest Motorsport Magazine column, and claims the falling dominoes could lead to Robert Kubica returning to F1 with Williams at next weekend's Belgian GP!
"Carlos Sainz's signing for McLaren as Fernando Alonso's replacement for 2019 puts another piece in the driver market jigsaw," he writes. "But we may be about to see some pieces being moved by the very next race at Spa, with Lance Stroll quite possibly switching to Force India and his place being taken at Williamse by Robert Kubica."
Time for an explainer.
Mark reports that Toto Wolff was concerned about Force India's financial woes and so lined up a McLaren seat for Esteban Ocon for the second half of the season with a view to a 2019 drive.
That was then quashed after Ocon agreed a deal with Renault for next season, with Wolff then approaching McLaren about putting Sainz in the car early, but that was then aborted after Daniel Ricciardo surprised everybody, Renault included, by signing for the French team.
Meanwhile, the buyer of Force India was the Lawrence Stroll-led consortium, and Lawrence now has the possibility of moving his son Lance from Williams to the much-more competitive Force India team for the second half of the season. Hence putting Ocon's current drive under threat again!
"If Lance Stroll does make the switch (with appropriate compensation to Williams), then Robert Kubica is in line to stand in at Williams - and we'd finally get to see that little fairy tale come true," Hughes continues.
"All of which still leaves Ocon without a confirmed 2019 drive. May we yet see him in a McLaren, as Wolff originally tried to make happen for Hungary?"
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