02/08/2021
NEWS STORY
Hungarian Grand Prix winner, Esteban Ocon has paid tribute to his teammate, two-time world champion, Fernando Alonso.
When he finally found his way to the podium - having parked up in the wrong spot and consequently earned himself a reprimand - there waiting to greet him was Esteban Ocon's teammate, Fernando Alonso, the Spaniard clearly delighted at the result.
Indeed, while all credit is due to Ocon, Alonso played his part in the Frenchman's victory, giving him precious breathing space by refusing to yield to a clearly faster Lewis Hamilton, and in the process thrilling fans with one of the great battles of the season.
In the moments after the race, Ocon was keen to pay tribute to the Spaniard.
"I heard many different things about Fernando, what I heard before he came to the team, I heard he was a tricky teammate to work with, that he was playing tricks, that he was not fair with the team, that he was ruthless. But what I'm having with Fernando is fantastic," he grinned. "He is sharing information, pushing the team, towards the same goal, which is winning in the future.
"Today I'm proud to be working with him, its a privilege, he is such a legend... I hope we can share more podiums."
Referring to his win, the Frenchman beamed: "What a moment, what a moment!" he said. "It feels so good. It's the first victory obviously since the Renault group came back into Formula 1.
"We had some difficult moments this season that we overcame together with the team. We've come back to a fantastic place in Silverstone.
"And today, what can I say? it's fantastic... the win is also thanks to Fernando, with the fights that he did. It's teamwork, all that. I think it's been a fantastic day."
Things haven't been easy for Ocon this season, in a string of races between Azerbaijan and Austria he failed to score any points, suffering an engine issue in Baku and accident damage on the opening lap at the Red Bull Ring. Indeed, at both races at the 'Ring he failed to make it into Q2.
No surprise therefore that Ocon took the opportunity to thank Alpine for sticking with him.
"When you are out in Q1, when you are P17, you don't know where you are exactly, but the team kept the big trust," he said.
"Now we're back where we belong, so that's fantastic. Seb was mega quick the whole race, put me under big pressure. But yeah, we managed to hold him off so that was a great effort."
Check out our Sunday gallery from the Hungaroring, here.