Renault not replacing Ocon as reserve driver

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Renault Sports F1 has confirmed that it has no plans to seek a new test and reserve driver to replace Esteban Ocon, who has moved to a full-time race seat at Manor for the remainder of the 2016 season in place of Rio Haryanto.

"On the subject of third drivers, we won't be naming another," the team said in a tweet. "One of our lucky drivers already under contract will get the call if needed.

Among the junior drivers on Renault's books are Nicholas Latifi, Oliver Rowland, Jack Aitken and Louis Deletraz.

However Russian driver Sergey Sirotkin would be the most likely driver to get the call, having already driven the car in practice at his home Grand Prix weekend earlier in the season.

Renault chief Cyril Abiteboul said that the team would be monitoring Ocon's progress at Manor in the remaining nine races of the season, suggesting that they are considering offering him a place at Enstone for 2017 if all goes well.

"Esteban will be up against a highly rated and quick teammate, which will enable us to evaluate him in a representative environment," he said."

Meanwhile Felix Rosenqvist has been named as Ocon's replacement in the Mercedes DTM teamm and will make his championship début in Moscow later this month.

"As our test and reserve driver, Felix is well-prepared for this challenge,” said Mercedes DTM boss Ulrich Fritz. ""It therefore makes absolute sense for us to give him the opportunity to contest this DTM race weekend in Moscow.

"And of course, a very special thank you goes to Esteban for his achievements this season. He has done exceptionally well in his DTM rookie year against a strong field.

"Now we’re all giving him the thumbs-up on his Formula One debut at Spa."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.