Esteban Ocon thanked his Alpine team for keeping faith in him through a difficult spell earlier in the season after taking a shock win in the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The Alpine driver moved up to second place after several drivers collided at the start of the race. He then took the lead by pitting for slicks before race leader Lewis Hamilton at the restart.Ocon then resisted race-long pressure from Sebastian Vettel to claim his first win in Formula 1. It was also the first victory for Alpine, previously known as Renault, since the French manufacturer returned to F1 as a constructor five years ago.
“It feels so good,” said Ocon. “It’s the first victory, obviously, since the Renault Group came back into Formula 1.
“We had some difficult moments this season but we overcame together with the team. We came back to a fantastic pace in Silverstone and this victory today what can I say, it’s fantastic.”
Ocon paid tribute to his team mate, whose defence of fourth place from Lewis Hamilton for several laps kept the charging Mercedes driver from catching him.
“Congrats to Fernando as well because I think the win is also thanks to him, with the fight that he did,” said Ocon. “It’s teamwork, all that. It’s been a fantastic day.”
Ocon rebounded from a difficult pair of races in Austria where he was eliminated in Q1 twice in a row. A change of chassis before the British Grand Prix weekend solved his problems with the car.
He said he owed the team “a big thank you for the trust that everyone is putting in me.”
“In difficult moments when you are out of Q1, when you are P17, you don’t know where you are exactly, the team kept a big trust,” he said. “We are back where we belong so that’s fantastic.
“Sebastian was mega-quick the whole race, put me under a big pressure, but we managed to to hold him up so that was a great effort.”
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2021 Hungarian Grand Prix
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mystic one (@mysticus)
1st August 2021, 16:54
Ocon should thank to Alonso more than the team, if it wasnt for alonso’s brilliant drive/defense, ham would walk both front runners without sweat, he was running 3.5s faster than front runners… it is incredible to see sainz didnt break through at all… alo if he didnt pick fight with ham he would have a chance to overtake sainz, he left himself a position but ultimately win the team 1 bigger one. congrats to alo and i bet all max fans were rooting for alo!
Le Jimster (@lejimster82)
1st August 2021, 17:15
Yeah, Alonso did a massive job for Alpine and Ocon there.
BasCB (@bascb)
1st August 2021, 18:02
He did also talk about that in the pre podium interview @mysticus, right after calling out the team, he added the teamwork and especially Alonso helping him win by keeping Hamilton at bay for long enough.
Erzen (@xenn1)
1st August 2021, 17:04
It was honestly baffling to me that Ocon was never tied to a possible move to Mercedes after the season ended, it was always Russell and Bottas. He fully deserves his place in F1 and it looks like he’s found a home at Alpine, i have no doubt that there’s a lot more to come from him
Ipsom
1st August 2021, 17:07
Well deserved win he fought tooth and nail for. Ocon specially had the hardest route into F1 than all the other drivers
Silver
1st August 2021, 17:16
Alonso explained to the spanish TV that Hamilton was doing mistakes over and over again in the last corner. And thanks to that he managed to keep him behind all those laps. I’d like to see all the battle again and pay attention to that.
AJ (@asleepatthewheel)
1st August 2021, 18:19
He kept hugging the inside line to have a much sharper trajectory on the straight and early acceleration. Rosberg pointed it out on sky. Don’t think it is a “mistake”.
x303 (@x303)
1st August 2021, 17:37
Good job Esteban, and good for Alpine to back their drivers when the hit a low.
Dave
1st August 2021, 20:05
Alpine? Still Renault to me! :D
pastaman (@)
1st August 2021, 22:04
Even though I don’t like the guy, he raced well today and deserved the win.
ryanoceros (@ryanoceros)
2nd August 2021, 0:36
The sudden decrease in Ocon’s performance after signing his 3 year deal was even stressing me out. Good to see him have a solid drive at the front. First French driver winning in a French car since Panis in Monte Carlo 1996. That was another race of high attrition.
Jay Menon (@jaymenon10)
2nd August 2021, 1:35
Alonso won this race for Ocon.
That was defensive driving masterclass, dont think may on the grid could have kept Lewis on newer mediums behind for as long as he did. Absolutely brilliant.