Esteban Ocon thanked Alpine team mate Fernando Alonso for helping him to an unexpected first Formula One win in Hungary on Sunday.
The first French winner in a French car with a French engine since Alain Prost with Renault in 1983, Ocon made a great start and then took the lead when the race was halted and re-started.
He held off Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel, a four times world champion, while team mate Alonso held up Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton for long enough to ensure the Briton could not overhaul the race leader late on.
"What a moment," exclaimed Ocon, the 111th winner of a Formula One championship grand prix since the first in 1950, after parking his car in the wrong place in the excitement and running back down the pitlane to embrace his team.
The win was the first for the Renault-owned team under their rebranding as Alpine.
The Enstone-based outfit have raced previously as Toleman, Benetton, Renault and Lotus, who won with Kimi Raikkonen in Australia in 2013. They last triumphed under Renault ownership in Japan in 2008 with Alonso.
"Congrats to Fernando as well because I think the win is also thanks to him with the fight that he did," added Ocon, who hugged the Spaniard, a double world champion who turned 40 last week.
Alonso, who began his comeback this year after two seasons out and was voted Driver of the Day by fans, also took his first Formula One win in Hungary with Renault in 2003.
"It has been awesome to work with Fernando. Since the beginning of the year... we are working together, we are pushing the team to try and improve and get closer to the pack in front," said Ocon.
"Everyone told me a lot of things about Fernando before I came but everything is wrong. I can tell you he is a fantastic guy and I am really enjoying the collaboration we have together."
Ocon said it would take a while for his surprise success to sink in, but he had achieved only part of a childhood dream - the rest being to win the world championship.
Meanwhile, George Russell scored his first points for Williams on Sunday, and shed a tear, as his struggling former champions enjoyed their best day in Formula One since 2017.
The Briton, who could become a Mercedes driver next season if Valtteri Bottas is dropped as Lewis Hamilton's team mate, finished ninth behind eighth-placed Canadian team mate Nicholas Latifi.
Williams had not scored a point since 2019 and the last time they had two cars finish in the top 10 was in 2018, when Canadian Lance Stroll and Russian Sergey Sirotkin finished ninth and 10th at Monza.
They had not taken so many points from a single race since 2017, when they ended the season fifth overall, but were helped on Sunday by opening lap collisions that removed several of the usual top 10 finishers.
"I literally shed a tear earlier, I don’t know literally where it came from; it all just came flooding out," Russell told F1 television.
"It does mean so much more than just scoring points. When you’ve been fighting for this for so long, at one point you just think: is it ever going to happen?"
Russell had scored points before, but with Mercedes in Bahrain last year when he also finished ninth as a stand-in for Hamilton when the champion was sidelined with Covid-19.
Latifi ran third for a while but always knew he was never going to be able to hold on to that.
Williams have finished last in the standings for the past three years but have now lifted themselves ahead of Alfa Romeo as well as Haas.
"I got quite emotional to be honest because it’s not just a P9; it’s three years of hard work for me personally," said Russell.
- Reuters
Ocon thanks team mate Alonso after first F1 win
Image: FLORION GOGA / REUTERS
Esteban Ocon thanked Alpine team mate Fernando Alonso for helping him to an unexpected first Formula One win in Hungary on Sunday.
The first French winner in a French car with a French engine since Alain Prost with Renault in 1983, Ocon made a great start and then took the lead when the race was halted and re-started.
He held off Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel, a four times world champion, while team mate Alonso held up Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton for long enough to ensure the Briton could not overhaul the race leader late on.
"What a moment," exclaimed Ocon, the 111th winner of a Formula One championship grand prix since the first in 1950, after parking his car in the wrong place in the excitement and running back down the pitlane to embrace his team.
The win was the first for the Renault-owned team under their rebranding as Alpine.
The Enstone-based outfit have raced previously as Toleman, Benetton, Renault and Lotus, who won with Kimi Raikkonen in Australia in 2013. They last triumphed under Renault ownership in Japan in 2008 with Alonso.
"Congrats to Fernando as well because I think the win is also thanks to him with the fight that he did," added Ocon, who hugged the Spaniard, a double world champion who turned 40 last week.
Alonso, who began his comeback this year after two seasons out and was voted Driver of the Day by fans, also took his first Formula One win in Hungary with Renault in 2003.
"It has been awesome to work with Fernando. Since the beginning of the year... we are working together, we are pushing the team to try and improve and get closer to the pack in front," said Ocon.
"Everyone told me a lot of things about Fernando before I came but everything is wrong. I can tell you he is a fantastic guy and I am really enjoying the collaboration we have together."
Ocon said it would take a while for his surprise success to sink in, but he had achieved only part of a childhood dream - the rest being to win the world championship.
Meanwhile, George Russell scored his first points for Williams on Sunday, and shed a tear, as his struggling former champions enjoyed their best day in Formula One since 2017.
The Briton, who could become a Mercedes driver next season if Valtteri Bottas is dropped as Lewis Hamilton's team mate, finished ninth behind eighth-placed Canadian team mate Nicholas Latifi.
Williams had not scored a point since 2019 and the last time they had two cars finish in the top 10 was in 2018, when Canadian Lance Stroll and Russian Sergey Sirotkin finished ninth and 10th at Monza.
They had not taken so many points from a single race since 2017, when they ended the season fifth overall, but were helped on Sunday by opening lap collisions that removed several of the usual top 10 finishers.
"I literally shed a tear earlier, I don’t know literally where it came from; it all just came flooding out," Russell told F1 television.
"It does mean so much more than just scoring points. When you’ve been fighting for this for so long, at one point you just think: is it ever going to happen?"
Russell had scored points before, but with Mercedes in Bahrain last year when he also finished ninth as a stand-in for Hamilton when the champion was sidelined with Covid-19.
Latifi ran third for a while but always knew he was never going to be able to hold on to that.
Williams have finished last in the standings for the past three years but have now lifted themselves ahead of Alfa Romeo as well as Haas.
"I got quite emotional to be honest because it’s not just a P9; it’s three years of hard work for me personally," said Russell.
- Reuters
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