Why Alonso Ranks Alpine Teammate Ocon’s Maiden F1 Win Ahead of His Le Mans Triumph

The 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix was the kind of rollercoaster race F1 has not seen in a long time. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon emerged as the unlikely winner of the race by taking the lead after most cars restarted the race from the pit lane. His teammate Fernando Alonso played a major role in helping Ocon secure that race win and even termed it a “special” one for the team.

Given how much experience Alonso has in motorsports, he has a racing CV far more impressive than the Frenchman’s. However, he rates Alpine’s first win more special for him than his Le Mans triumph.

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This one is more special because it is unexpected: Fernando Alonso

As reported by GPfans, Alonso mentioned the team was not expecting to win in Hungary. He also mentioned that circumstances and luck played a huge part in the team’s triumph.

“This one is more special because it is unexpected,” said Fernando.

“We don’t have the pace to win a race and you need very special circumstances. Those circumstances were there, and the luck was on our side,” said Alonso.

Alonso stated that he was happy to contribute to the victory,” It feels ok. Probably the last time was at Toyota, where we were teammates. We were winning with the Toyota #7 and Toyota #8,” said the two-time world champion.

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The Spaniard states Hungary is special for the Enstone team

Alonso mentioned that the Hungaroring circuit has proved to be very special for the Enstone-based team. He won his first race in Formula One in 2003, with Renault, the team’s previous guise, in Hungary.

“[I am] very happy for them, a lot of smiles on everybody’s faces and also for Esteban,” added Alonso.

“When you are young and you win an F1 Grand Prix, you will stay forever as a Grand Prix winner. This happened in Hungary, same as in 2003 for me, so this place is a lucky place for our team, so happy for that,” said Alonso.

Alpine have jumped both Aston Martin and AlphaTauri to fifth in the constructors’ title after Hungary.

Do you think Ocon and Alonso can carry forward this momentum into Belgium?