Formula 1 French GP

Alpine: No Mercedes exit clauses in Ocon’s new three-year F1 deal

Alpine boss Laurent Rossi has clarified there are no exit clauses within Esteban Ocon’s new three-year Formula 1 contract that would allow Mercedes to sign him.

Luke Smith Alex Kalinauckas

Edited: Jun 18, 2021, 8:52 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Esteban Ocon, Alpine A521

Alpine announced on Wednesday that Ocon had agreed a new long-term deal that would keep him with the team until the end of the 2024 season.

When asked by Motorsport.com to clarify his ties to Mercedes ahead of this weekend’s French Grand Prix, Ocon said: “So, I’m completely a fully Alpine driver for the next three years – that’s where I stand at the moment.

“For sure, there’s still connections with Mercedes, but the job I’m doing is to be with Alpine, and fully with Alpine."

Ocon had previously been a member of Mercedes’ young driver programme, and was even in contention for a seat with the German manufacturer’s senior F1 squad in 2020 before ultimately joining Renault, which later became Alpine.

Speaking in Friday’s FIA press conference, Alpine CEO Rossi clarified that Ocon’s contract stretched for three years and had no clauses that could be triggered to allow for a move to Mercedes.

“He is a Mercedes managed driver, that's about it,” Rossi said.

“So he's constantly under their management, but there's no such clause [for] Mercedes [to] put him out of the team.

“No, he stays with us for the next three years.”

Read Also:

Esteban Ocon signs new Alpine F1 deal until 2024

Esteban Ocon, Alpine F1

Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images

Ocon has impressed in the early part of his second full season with the Enstone-based squad, scoring points in four of the five races he has finished.

His performances played a part in Alpine’s move to open talks early and get a deal sewn up before the summer break, with Rossi drawing comparisons in his approach to that of four-time world champion Alain Prost.

“He is a great fine tuner, he reminds me a lot of Alain,” Rossi said.

“He is very good at extracting the maximum out of the car, and it shows, 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.

“He is a good teammate. He is good with the rest of the team. When I say teammate it is not just to other driver, also the rest of the team. He is basically pushing everyone up. He is a great guy to have in the team.”

Rossi explained that the three-year deal was agreed in a bid to fall in line with the regulation cycle that starts in 2022, not wishing to see a driver leave early.

“It’s a three-year regulation period that opens up next year,” Rossi said.

“We have a mid-to-long-term view of things at Renault. We want to be here for a long time, so we wanted to secure that first step.

“The first step is three years. We’ve seen enough of Esteban, we know he is good. I don't want to be here again, looking for another driver after two years. Recent past showed that it never really turns the right way - [if] you have a good driver, you want to keep them.

“So I think it's good for us, it's good for him. We have a long, long way to make progress, he buys into the project, and adds credibility to our project.

“For me it's also a guarantee that we're going to perform on the driver department. Esteban is arguably a top-10 driver minimum. So, we don't make a big mistake here.

“For me it was a no brainer. It's part of a long journey and Esteban fits into that mould quite well."

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article French GP: Bottas leads Mercedes 1-2 ahead of Verstappen in FP1

Next article French GP practice as it happened

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Carson Hocevar and Cleetus McFarland win LeMullets 2026 in epic finish

General

Misc General 1 h

Carson Hocevar and Cleetus McFarland win LeMullets 2026 in epic finish

TV ratings released for NASCAR Cup season finale

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Homestead-Miami

7 h

TV ratings released for NASCAR Cup season finale

Chase Elliott's car chief leaves Hendrick for NASCAR Truck crew chief role

NASCAR Truck

NSTR NASCAR Truck

Homestead

8 h

Chase Elliott's car chief leaves Hendrick for NASCAR Truck crew chief role

The surprising convergence behind F1's increasingly competitive 2026 season

Formula 1

The surprising convergence behind F1's increasingly competitive 2026 season

Feature

Discover prime content

Tough love and F1 titles – A key life lesson behind Wolff's Mercedes success

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Ronald Vording

Tough love and F1 titles – A key life lesson behind Wolff's Mercedes success

How Brazil showcased everything that's good about F1 - plus some that isn't

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Filip Cleeren

How Brazil showcased everything that's good about F1 - plus some that isn't

Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s

Formula 1

By Kevin Turner

Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s

Why Rafael Camara should take heart from a tough F1 debut in Brazil

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

Why Rafael Camara should take heart from a tough F1 debut in Brazil

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts