F1: Esteban Ocon set to replace Nico Hulkenberg at Renault

Ocon to partner Ricciardo at Renault

German publication Auto Bild reports that Esteban Ocon will join Renault next season and partner Daniel Ricciardo.

Frenchman Ocon is currently Mercedes’s reserve driver and had been tipped to replace Valterri Bottas and become Lewis Hamilton’s team-mate at the Silver Arrows.

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However, the Daily Express adds that Mercedes chief Toto Wolff will keep faith with Finn Bottas and allow Ocon to join Renault.

Bottas’s current deal with Mercedes expires at the end of the season but the Express says he will be handed a 12-month contract extension.

Wolff recently said of Ocon: “Esteban is an issue because he is one of the most promising young drivers. He deserves to drive in Formula 1. We also see that in the interest in him for next year.”

Where next for Hulkenberg?

With Ricciardo and Ocon lined up to be on the grid for Renault in 2020 where does this leave Nico Hulkenberg?

The German has been with Renault since the start of the 2017 season but he is now the odd one out in the driver market.

F1i reports that Hulkenberg could find a new home at Haas with Romain Grosjean’s four-year spell with the US team expected to come to an end.

Hulkenberg potentially moving to Haas would see him line up alongside Kevin Magnussen. There’s no love lost between the two drivers after a number of run-ins on the track.

Magnussen told Auto Motor und Sport: “We are opponents on the track and we are not friends.

“Ultimately, I have great respect for Nico and I personally have nothing against him. As a person, I don’t know him, but I have never heard anyone talk badly about him.”

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Correa and Calderon testing for Alfa at Paul Ricard

Alfa Romeo will give Formula 2 drivers Juan Manuel Correa and Tatiana Calderon a two-day test session at Paul Ricard this week. It will be Correa’s first taste of F1 machinery says Formula1.com.

Alfa test driver Calderon and development driver Correa will take to the Paul Ricard track on Friday and Saturday ahead of F2’s return at Belgium’s Spa-Francorchamps circuit on 31 August.

Alfa Romeo team principal Frederic Vasseur said: “Our team has a proud history of nurturing young talent and we take this part of our mission very seriously.

“Both Juan Manuel and Tatiana have proven to be valuable members of our team, working with us at the factory and trackside, and this opportunity in the car will help them progress even further in their understanding of Formula 1 and in building their relationship with the engineers and crew.”