Not Mercedes teammates at the time, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton once made Esteban Ocon question his race. It was the extremely chaotic 2021 Hungarian GP. In the season where every point mattered, the seven-time champion was in pole position for the race. However, because of the rain before the race, everyone started on intermediate tires.
A barrage of first lap collisions brought out the red flag and in time for the restart, the entire track dried up. That’s where Hamilton made his mistake making Ocon think he made an error. Secondly, Russell did something that Ocon thought wasn’t legal but turned out to be.
Once the race restarted after all the debris of the opening lap multi-car crash was cleared, the track was bone dry. So, at the end of the formation lap, Ocon dove into the pits from P2. However, leading the pack, Hamilton stayed out as per his team’s decision.
This, the Frenchman thought at the time, was his first error as he revealed in a conversation seen on the FormuleFans’ YouTube page. However, his decision was backed by the rest of the grid and even Hamilton a lap later pitted for dry weather tries.
Second, and perhaps more important was when the then-Williams man jumped him in the pits. Ocon missed the start and had a reaction time of 0.5 seconds compared to the usual 0.2 seconds. So, Russell overtook him in the pit lane which would’ve effectively put him in the lead.
However, according to the rules, he wasn’t allowed to and had to give the position back to the Alpine man. Ocon did not know it was illegal to overtake in the pit lane under those conditions.
So, even though the now Mercedes men made him think she made two errors in the chaotic race, the 27-year-old was in the right. In fact, things started looking up for him as the race progressed.
Esteban Ocon won his first race in the 2021 Hungarian GP with a helping hand from his teammate
The Frenchman in the lead kept improving and stayed in the lead for the entirety of the race. The 2021 Hungarian GP marked his first and only race win in his career so far. It was all down to his quick thinking and decision to pit and come out in the lead of the race. However, some credit also needs to go to his then-teammate Fernando Alonso.
The two-time champion was running in fourth and kept Hamilton behind him till lap 65 of the 70-lap race. The Spaniard did not let his oldest and most fierce rival as easily as he would’ve liked. So, despite being in superior machinery, Hamilton lost considerable time while making his way back to the top. This gave Ocon enough breathing room to see out the race in the lead.
Haven’t spoken about it for a while. Here’s some 2021 #HungarianGP content for you pic.twitter.com/qIf4Cw0DSU
— BWT Alpine F1 Team (@AlpineF1Team) January 31, 2024
The events of the race on the Hungaroring in 2021 will go down in Alpine’s history as it remains their only race win. The French team has not had a peep for another since. With their current state, it seems they won’t get another shot for quite some time. However, stranger things have happened and stars might align once again for Alpine or Ocon.
