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Alpine sticks with Ocon: 'Build a team around him like Verstappen'

Alpine sticks with Ocon: 'Build a team around him like Verstappen'

17-06-2021 06:24 Last update: 12:57
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GPblog.com

Esteban Ocon has signed a three-year contract with Alpine and is therefore assured of a place in Formula 1 in the coming years. According to Lawrence Barretto the decision is logical for Alpine, but also for Ocon himself.

Ocon stays with Alpine

Under a new name and new management, Ocon is the leading man at Alpine this season. Where Fernando Alonso still has to find his way upon his return, Ocon is getting results time and time again. It is therefore not surprising that Alpine chooses to give this stable factor a longer contract.

''In Monaco, I had separate conversations with two senior team personnel about the driver market, and Ocon came up each time. Both said they believed it made sense not only for Alpine to keep Ocon on based on his impressive performances this year, but also that it was in the 24-year-old’s interests to sign on the dotted line because it presented him with the chance to build a team around him in the way Lewis Hamilton has done at Mercedes, Max Verstappen at Red Bull and Michael Schumacher did at Ferrari,'' Barretto said in his analysis for Formula1.com.

No chance at Mercedes

As a junior at Mercedes, Ocon will have kept an eye on the developments within the German team. With Hamilton and Bottas without a contract there is still a chance, but now that George Russell as a talent seems to have the better papers to get a seat, the risk of waiting is very big for Ocon.

''Wait too long and Ocon could be left out in the cold again. Having experienced that before, with a year on the side-lines in 2019, the Frenchman was in no mood to mess around,'' the reporter concludes.