Famous English motorsport broadcaster Jeremy Clarkson seems to have more than delivered on the promise he made to Alpine ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix a few weeks ago. The 63-year-old had promised the team that he would buy everyone a pint if they clinched a podium. And to Clarkson‘s surprise, Esteban Ocon did just that.
After qualifying a fantastic fourth on Saturday, the Frenchman drove a fantastic race to grab his first podium of the season. Until this race, Alpine had struggled massively.
Come on @AlpineF1Team I’ll buy you all a pint if you get a podium here.
— Jeremy Clarkson (@JeremyClarkson) May 28, 2023
Interestingly, they scored more points in Monaco (21) than they had scored in the first five races (14). After this race, they scored another five points in Spain to move up to fifth place in the Constructors’ Championship.
Clarkson delivers on his promise after Ocon grabs a podium in Monaco
As seen in the images and videos below, Jeremy Clarkson delivered on his promise by arriving on a tractor with more than 1000 beers for the Alpine team. After they all got their beers, the team got together and celebrated.
Delivering on his word. Cheers for the beers, @JeremyClarkson 🍻 https://t.co/JSt9hQ80FG pic.twitter.com/W41Y9EBD61
— BWT Alpine F1 Team (@AlpineF1Team) June 12, 2023
Just your average Monday at Enstone 🍻#Alpine pic.twitter.com/FFk5BjqBoe
— BWT Alpine F1 Team (@AlpineF1Team) June 12, 2023
What a day 🤩#Alpine pic.twitter.com/il2s6LD7vD
— BWT Alpine F1 Team (@AlpineF1Team) June 12, 2023
In the process of delivering on his promise, Clarkson also cleverly promoted his brand, Hawkstone. As quoted on Hawkstone’s Instagram page, it is a brand of “premium lager and cider.“After handing the entire team a beer, Clarkson also attached his brand’s label to the Alpine car.
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Esteban Ocon delivers Alpine’s best result in Monaco
Esteban Ocon drove an outstanding race in Monaco to clinch his first podium of the 2023 season and third overall as he had to resist some intense pressure from Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz. And it was not just the Spaniard that Ocon had to contend with, as the race also made the race incredibly tricky.
Despite all these challenges coming his way, the Frenchman held his nerve. After clinching this brilliant podium, the 26-year-old said (as quoted by formula1.com), “I’m speechless. I’m on a cloud at the moment. I don’t know what to say! Before the weekend, if you told us that we were going to be in the top 10, we would have been happy, you know?”
Even though Alpine has had an extremely difficult start to the 2023 season, the Monaco Grand Prix undoubtedly helped them significantly to improve their position. Thanks to the 21 points they scored in Monaco and the five they scored in Spain a few weeks after, they now have a 23-point cushion over sixth-place McLaren.
