The 24-year-old has enjoyed a stellar start to his second campaign with Alpine, having been able to continue his late-season momentum from last year that saw him take his maiden F1 p✃odium at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix.

Ocon has led the rebranded Alpine squad’s charge so far in 2021, scoring 10 points compared to returning two-time world c🤡hampion Fernando Alonso’s five, while he has also outqualified the Spaniard at three of the opening four rounds.

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Mo🎃naco Grand Prix, Rossi confirmed that Alpine hasꦿ already opened discussions about extending Ocon’s deal following his eye-catching displays this season.

“It's indeed something we're considering,” Rossi re♎sponde🦩d when asked if Alpine was looking to tie up a new contract for Ocon.

“Esteban is doing everything to make me consider keeping him in the team. I would be remiss if I didn't think abou🍬t it, so obviously at the moment, we're already engaged in some conversations wꦛith his agent, his management team, Mercedes at large.

“Esteban is a great driver, so I'm happy to have tha⛄t type of problem – which is not [one] actually!”

Rossi said he i🐼s “not surprised at all” by Ocon’s impressive form at the start of the 2021 season.

“We knew he's extremely talented,” he added. "He's been racing against all of the drivers, or most of the d🗹rivers, when he was younger... and he was always consistently beating them most of the time, so I knew he had a lot ꦏof talent.

“It's the second year, so he's started🐻 having good references in the team. We also made some modifications to his own team and the way we build up the race weekends and the qualification, so it shows the guy's talent. I think he's where he should be, which is good.”

AlphaTauri’s race-winner Pierre Gasly has been linked with a potential switch to Alpine for next year but Rossi insisted the Frenchman is n༒ot under consideration.

“We're 🍎not looking at any drivers for next year,” Ro༒ssi explained.

“Beca♉use at the moment, I'm considering obviously Esteban as we mentioned earlier on. Fernando is here next year with us, so if we want to carry on with the momentum we have, we'll do t♉hat.

“Pierre is obviously a great driver, of value,🥃 but at the moment, this is n☂ot in our cards, I would say.”