Alpine clear: 'There's no such clause Mercedes'

Alpine announced this week that Esteban Ocon will stay with the team for the next three years. The driver is doing well for the time being and needs to develop further in the coming years. Although Mercedes are likely to have an interest in him, his team emphasizes that he will stay with Alpine for the next few years.

The Frenchman has impressed at Alpine so far this season. Double world champion Fernando Alonso is on 13 points in the world championship with the same car, and Ocon reached is just one point behind. He has finished in the points in four of the six races so far this season.

That's why there were rumours of a possible switch to Mercedes, but that's out of the question for now. "There's no such clause [for] Mercedes [to] put him out of the team. No, he stays with us for the next three years," CEO Laurant Rossi told Motorsport.com.

"He is very good at extracting the maximum out of the car, and it shows," he continued his explanation. "Constantly improving. He is damn fast too - give him any car he is fast, and he shows it every qualy. So that makes him a very good driver."