Esteban Or with and Mercedes distant but still together. This is the indiscretion launched by Gwen Lagrue, head of the junior program Mercedes, in an exclusive interview with The Race. Based on what is said, in fact, the French pilot - currently a point of reference for Alpine - is still there linked to Mercedes, team with which he remained tied even after signing with the Enstone team.
Laugre: “Ocon is still linked to Mercedes”
"He is still tied to us” said Lagrue. With this situation, therefore, there is certainly no shortage of attention on the future of Ocon. The Frenchman, at the moment, is more than united with Alpine, as the results obtained on the track also seem to speak clearly, but it is inevitable to think that after this news, Ocon will be even more of a special observer within the paddock. “He is an Alpine rider and has fully committed to them, but we are still managing his career. There are only 20 places in Formula 1 and in a certain sense we are almost all collaborating in the interest of the sport. In our case we have an excellent relationship with Alpine and with the others. We always try to find the best solution to work together in the interest of the team and the driver".
Ocon is preparing to play a new season with Alpine again this year (discover the presentation date of the 2024 car). The results of past years speak clearly: the talent of the driver (an excellent purchase also at Fanta F1) is unquestionable. At Mercedes they know this and, precisely for this reason, they prefer to watch him on the track and above all hold on to him: "To be honest, in the last two years, what he has done against Fernando too Alonso it was quite strong. So – continued Lagrue – we're not talking about always winning or getting podiums or anything, but still he did a great job. And I think Fernando also pushed him to a limit that he didn't know himself, and he's still improving".
