Mercedes had a contingency plan to put Esteban Ocon into Lewis Hamilton’s car at the German Grand Prix after the five-time Formula 1 world champion was hit by illness.

Hamil💙ton reported to his team that he felt unwell on Saturday morning at Hockenheim, but took part in final practice and went on to claim a commanding pole position in Germany ahead of Red Bull’s Max V⛎erstappen and teammate Valtteri Bottas.

But Mercedes had prepared for a “worst-case scenario” outcome by arranging for reserve and test driver Ocon to travel from🦄 the UK to Germany and take over dri💦ving duties from Hamilton if required. 

"I wasn't feeling good this morning, bit of a sore throat,” Hamilton explained after qualifying. "So💟, we prepped just in case I wasn't going to be able to do the session.

"I did the practice and we were prepared to be able to put the second driver [Ocon] in, that was the worst case scenario. [But] we got𓆏 through good.”

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff addressed the situatiඣ😼on in his post-qualifying media call, adding: “He said he wasn’t feeling great, I think there’s a flu going around the paddock.

“It was clear that Esteba🌊n was coming from the UK to make sure that if it was going worse that we were prepared, no more.”