Alpine driver Esteban Ocon is adamant that he is “totally dedicated” to the French team despite having a connection with Mercedes.
The Frenchman’s Alpine contract runs out at the end of 2025, and he is seen as a candidate to replace the outgoing Lewis Hamilton after joining the Mercedes junior team in 2015.
The 27-year-old has also known Mercedes boss Toto Wolff for much of his racing career, with the Austrian integral to Ocon’s development.
Speaking during Wednesday’s launch of the Alpine A524 at Enstone, Ocon said: “I’ve always had strong links with Mercedes. I’m still a Merc junior driver.
“This has always been, even if I’m not that junior anymore. I’m still contracted with them at some stage.
“So, it is how it is. We will see.
“At the moment, I’m totally dedicated to Alpine. That’s my focus.
“I need to do a good job on track as always. Every year is a crucial year in F1 because it doesn’t matter if you have a contract or not. If you don’t perform, you can be out. That’s how it is.
“If you do a strong job, there will always be talks, rumours and good things for you. As long as we talk about you, it means that what you do on track is good.”
Alpine has kept a stable driver lineup of Ocon and Pierre Gasly for this season as the team will look to recover from an unsettled year of change in 2023.
The 27-year-old hopes a calm winter will help provide the team with the perfect platform to improve during the upcoming campaign.
“It’s very good to have continuity,” he added. “You keep the work going, keep the little details going through. And ultimately, that’s very important because you have everything to learn if you work with a new team, with new people.
“If there is some fuzz at the other [teams], we will take it, but we don’t want to focus on the other side. We need to be perfect on our side, and then things will come.”
Ocon was taken aback by Hamilton’s switch to Ferrari for next season and was surprised by the timing of the move.
“I think the Lewis news surprised everyone,” he said. “Nobody was expecting something like that during the winter because it’s quite a calm period normally, but it hasn’t seemed to be a calm period this winter.”
