It has been an amazing start to the weekend for the fans of Argentina, Paris Saint-Germain, and most importantly, FC Barcelona, as Lionel Messi lifted the Ballon d’Or trophy for a record 7th time. However, there was indeed something to cheer for, for the F1 fans, thanks to Alpine.

Ballon d’Or is one of the most prestigious annual award ceremonies in football, hosted by France Football. 2021 also marked 65 years of Ballon d’Or. Hence, to make the evening further special for the guests, the organizers had a surprise in store.

The two Alpine F1 drivers, Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon showed up on the stage, wearing Grey suits and a helmet to cover their faces.

Why did the Alpine drivers take part in the event?

Well, Alonso and Ocon certainly played one of the most essential roles of the evening in Paris. How you might ask? The F1 teammates were the ones who actually delivered the two Ballon d’Or awards prior to the winners’ announcements.

Both kept their faces covered for a while before the hosts, Sandy Heribert and Didier Drogba, urged them to take their helmets off. And well, they did, and what followed was a roar of applause from the crowd. The cameras also caught Messi, Kylian Mbappe, and Luis Suarez portraying a wide smile.

It was indeed a brief cameo by Ocon and Alonso after which the duo paved the way for eventual award winners, Messi and Alexia Putellas.

FC Bayern Munich forward, Robert Lewandowski, snatched the best striker award with a whopping 59 goals while most-anticipated Mbappe only found himself in the 9th position having earned 58 points.

Twitter bursts into laughter

Twitter is indeed the best place to go after coming across such an event featuring F1 drivers. Many hilariously related the duo to two-men French Electronic music band, Daft Punk, which quite similarly had Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter, wearing helmets through all of their performances.

We’ve hand-picked some of the tweets. Check them out below:

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