Mercedes would be happy for Ocon to move to Renault.

Force India deputy team principal Bob Fernley says rival Formula 1 teams have missed their chance to sign Esteban Ocon, despite interest in his availability.

Ocon is contracted with Force India until 2019 and Fernley said it is keen to reap the rewards of securing him early.

"We'll do everything in our power to maintain the driver line-up we have today," said Fernley.

"We're in a very fortunate position in that, like the top three teams, we've got two super-talented drivers, and we're going to need that in order to battle for fourth place in 2018, or hopefully even go higher.

"The last thing we want to do is to lose talent.
"Esteban is contracted with us effectively for three years, but two of them are absolutely secure.

"From a contractual point of view it's clear, and I don't think Esteban has got any ideas of wishing to go anywhere else at this point.
"You've got to remember that we identified the potential of Esteban some time ago, and we obviously took the opportunity where others didn't, including Renault, to sign him last year.

"We've now got the benefit of that, and we want to make sure that we optimise that."

While Ocon is expected to stay put next year, sources have suggested that Mercedes would be happy for him to move to Renault.