Magnussen and Ocon at the forefront to support Hulkenberg at Renault

Kevin Magnussen and Esteban Ocon are the main candidates for the role of second Renault driver for next season, after the Anglo-French team made a last attempt to Bottas, without success.

The French car manufacturer had done nothing to hide its interest in the Finnish driver, with the team principal Fred vasseur who had remembered how in the past he had found himself working with Bottas, in particular in 2011, the year in which the Finnish driver triumphed in the GP3 championship.

La Williams However, it has always had an option on Bottas' contract and the latter, according to numerous "radio paddock" rumours, was exercised last month, however Renault still tried to sign the Finnish driver.

Bottas would have asked Renault for some more time to try to free himself from Williams - but following discussions over the weekend of US GP both sides agreed to stop discussions.

Predictably, Bottas will remain at Williams in 2017 alongside the youngster Lance stroll which has not yet been officially announced as explained , promising.

So after failing in the last attempts on Bottas the "hottest" options are Ocon and Magnussen.

Ocon, who is a pilot of the young talent program of the Mercedes, has great potential and has already impressed Renault's top management in his stint as third driver in the Anglo-French team, however his future depends on the team that owns his card, Mercedes, and this therefore also puts him in contention for the Force India which as is known is a partner of the Stuttgart team as it receives the power units from the latter.

This situation would therefore put Magnussen in a good position for reconfirmation, furthermore this also seems to be the preferred option by Renault's top management as the Danish driver already has a year of experience in the team and has impressed with good performances despite an uncompetitive car .

Another possible outsider is Esteban Gutierrez who thanks to his sponsors is a driver requested by many teams, this would lead Magnussen towards Haas however this is one of the most remote options, in any case it seems that Renault is in no hurry to decide and would be waiting for the situation at Force India to resolve itself define.

Stefano Rifici