Esteban Ocon took his - and Alpine's - first Formula 1 race win at a memorable and chaotic 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix.
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The chequered flag has been waved at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix and Esteban Ocon is on his victory lap. The young Frenchman is soaking in the adulation of the crowd, but he forgets one key detail – he needs to bring the car to Parc Ferme. He misses the mark and then needs to do a whole lap before returning to the entry point of the pit lane. There’s just one problem with that – his Alpine car is out of fuel. Ocon eventually jumps out of the car and runs to the pits, still celebrating along with the crowd. Eventually the team cottons on to what happened and runs to roll the car back into the pits.
It was, perhaps, a fittingly chaotic end to a fittingly chaotic Grand Prix race – one that saw Ocon claim his maiden win in the most unusual circumstances.
Winner number 1⃣1⃣1⃣ in F1 history#HungarianGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/01Z2icAYTG
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 1, 2021
Ocon, who started the race in P8, would end the race having broken a unique record. He became the first Frenchman to win a race in a French car and French engine since Alain Prost in 1983.
For Alpine, it is their first race win in their new guise – and a first win for this outfit since 2013. For Ocon, it was proof that hard work and dedication in the face of adversity can indeed lead to moments like this.
Ocon’s time in motor-racing has been full of ups and downs. Indeed, that he’s even racing at all is something of a minor miracle.
Unlike many race drivers, Ocon doesn’t come from money. His father was a mechanic who owned a garage in Evreux, Normandy. Being surrounded by cars from a young age, however, led to him developing an interest in motorsport.
He would eventually take up go-kart racing in 2006, but it required a massive sacrifice from his parents. They sold their home to fund his racing and instead lived out of a caravan.
It was a big risk – after all, there was no guarantee Ocon would even make it past the karting ranks. But his parents believed in him – and he repayed that faith on track.
His five years in karting saw him win numerous trophies before he made the step up to cars in 2012 in Formula Renault. Success soon followed there, but it was during his time at Formula 3 and GP3 that he really caught everyone’s attention.
He won the F3 title in 2014 with a round to spare, but that wasn’t the only notable aspect of his title win. No, that would be the fact that he beat a certain Max Verstappen to the title.
He would follow this up with a GP3 title win in 2015 despite only winning one race through the season. At this point, a call-up to F1 seemed likelier and likelier, given he had already done testing with the Lotus team in 2014.
In 2016, instead of continuing in GP3, he chose instead to drive in DTM. This way, he could race while also fulfilling his duties as Renault’s reserve driver. And it was later in that year when he got his break in F1.
Manor Racing, who were struggling at the back of the grid, dropped Indonesian driver Rio Haryanato. The reason? His sponsors failed to meet their contractual obligations.
But as the old saying goes, one man’s misfortune is another man’s opportunity. Esteban Ocon was handed that seat till the end of the season where he did as well as he possibly could.
It was in 2017 and 2018, however, that he really shone. As part of the Mercedes junior programme, he was signed for Force India and partnered with Sergio Perez.
His debut season saw him consistently finish among the points and the same was true in 2018 too. However, circumstances beyond his control ended up costing him his seat in 2019.
Force India were close to liquidation before being placed in administration. The team, owned by Indian businessman Vijay Mallya, was eventually purchased by a consortium headed by Lawrence Stroll.
The issue with this was that Lawrence’s son Lance Stroll was an F1 driver on the grid. Therefore, it was a well-known fact that he would join his father’s team. The real question was who would get dropped?
On performance, Ocon and Perez were more or less equal. In the end, Perez won out due to being the more seasoned of the two. The sponsorship money he brought in probably helped too.
For Ocon, things got worse due to the fact that he was supposed to join Renault for 2019. However, the French team unexpectedly signed Daniel Ricciardo from Red Bull and Ocon was without a drive.
The Frenchman would eventually sign with Mercedes for 2019, but only as their reserve driver. This meant he spent an entire year not racing on the track.
He revealed later that he almost became the teammate to Lewis Hamilton before Mercedes stuck with Valtteri Bottas for 2020. But Ocon’s fortune turned around when Renault dropped Nico Hulkenburg for 2020.
Thus, he signed for Renault – albeit a year later than originally planned, and partnering the man who was signed in his place.
2020 wasn’t the easiest season to begin with, as he showed the effects of being out of race action. It didn’t help at all that Ricciardo found his stride in a Renault that was capable of challenging for podiums.
But he improved as the season went on, and clinched his maiden podium at the Sakhir Grand Prix – a race won by former teammate Perez who, ironically, was also on the way out of the team.
2021 has been mixed for Ocon this far, with him fluctuating between points finishes and poor performances. However, few can argue against him deserving his race win.
At a time when chaos reigned supreme, he kept a cool head. To top things off, he fought off a four-time world champion in Sebastian Vettel for the entirety of the race.
As things stand, Esteban Ocon is set to be with Alpine for a few more years. Still, no one quite knows what the future holds. But the Frenchman will always have cherished memories of that crazy day at the Hungaroring.
