Mercedes reserve driver Esteban Ocon will be relieved from his contractual obligations with the German manufacturer and will join Renault for the 2020 F1 season according to a report from Auto Bild.
Mercedes is likely days away from announcing its 2020 line-up, with team boss Toto Wolff revealing recently that the plum drive alongside Lewis Hamilton shall be offered to either Ocon or incumbent Valtteri Bottas, with no other driver in the running.
Auto Bild contends that Wolff will extend Bottas' contract with the Silver Arrows outfit and allow Ocon to resume his F1 career with Renault alongside Aussie Daniel Ricciardo.
Renault F1 boss Cyril Abiteboul would no doubt seize the opportunity to enroll a talented French driver into the team.
But that decision, should it come to pass, would obviously leave Nico Hulkenberg as the odd man out at the French outfit.
However, the German driver could find a new home at Haas, where Romain Grosjean's four-year tenure with the US outfit is expected to end.
But that scenario would pit Hulkenberg against Kevin Magnussen, with a fair amount of bad blood existing between the two drivers as a result of several past on-track run-ins.
Yet the Dane recently said that he had "nothing against Hulkenberg".
"We are opponents on the track and we are not friends," Magnussen told Auto Motor und Sport.
"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."
Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
