The 2021 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix race will always be special for the Alpine team and, above all, for Esteban Ocon, who achieved his first victory in the highest category of motorsport thanks to the defense of his teammate, Fernando Alonso, over a Lewis Hamilton who was running about two seconds faster in the final laps to catch up with the Frenchman.
The man from Oviedo, aware that he could not let the seven-time champion pass for any reason, closed all the doors for the Enstone team to make its debut as the winner in a Grand Circus event after his facelift, after having been present on the grid as Renault.
Next weekend, the French team returns to the Hungaroring track, where they were so happy in the crazy race that began with the multiple accident at the start caused by Valtteri Bottas and Lance Stroll, so they brought their pair of drivers together to remember what it was like that Sunday.
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“A nice moment, it was the last lap of the race, reaching the finish line, and it was my first victory in Formula 1,” said Ocon while watching the replay of how he approached the final stretch. “A lot of emotions came into my head at that moment, of course, seeing the team on the wall, hearing the celebration on the radio in the background, it was extremely special.”
“It’s good to win a race, we want more like that with Fernando [Alonso],” said the Spaniard’s teammate, who repeated the same speech by saying that “I hoped to have more moments like those.”
The Asturian, surprised to see again the moment in which Esteban Ocon became the 111th driver to win a Formula 1 race, asked who was his only rival in the Hungarian event: “Seb [Vettel] was not behind you at the end?
“No, it wasn’t,” replied the Frenchman. “I pulled away from him at the end of the race, at the right time, that was just before the pit stop, and in the last couple of laps too, in dirty air I wasn’t comfortable, but then it was good. You had good fights too.
“I had a battle the whole race, but it went well,” replied the Spaniard while they both looked at each other with a smile on their faces that was reflected in their eyes.
“Look, look at that, what it means to everyone, it was very cool. That’s where I saw Fernando’s first victory, it was in 2003, a lot of similarities, on the pit wall and in everyone’s emotions,” Ocon said. “Some familiar faces on our team, Islander, and some of the other mechanics.”
When the winner was asked if he knew what he said on the radio to his team, he replied: “No, I can’t remember, maybe it’s impossible to really hear what he was saying, but it’s just emotions coming out. I think some friends told me They made some jokes, and I was screaming in a very high-pitched voice.”
Laughter and good humor were present at all times, Alonso even joked on the screens that Formula 1 includes in each grand prix to liven up the final show, and in the recording that came out on the broadcast you could see a happy Ocon celebrating victory effusively.
“That video is recorded at the beginning of the year, as if you were celebrating something, and you don’t know when you’ll see it, but it’s nice to see,” assured the Oviedo.
“When you came with me to celebrate it, with the two cars side by side, it was very good,” added his teammate.
Alpine’s victory was something that everyone wanted in the team, as Alonso recognized, and that is that in the Ensonte structure they had not uncorked the champagne since the two-time champion himself climbed to the top at the 2008 Japanese Grand Prix.
“It was unexpected, but we deserved it, because we had been unlucky in other moments, and I remember a couple of podiums from other teams in 2020, I think for the boys, our team, it was a very special moment,” he said, before continuing joking about what he had to do to congratulate Ocon.
“I’ve been waiting for you for a long time. Where were you? I parked the car in the parc fermé and when I arrived I greeted all the mechanics, but they said: ‘where has he gone?’ That’s when you came from the wrong side of the building,” he said with a laugh.
However, the two are aware that they want more and do not settle for anything, something that was demonstrated in a statement they made at the same time: “We need more of these”.
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