Esteban Ocon has hailed Alpine for the progress it made throughout the 2021 Formula 1 season.
The team, which rebranded from Renault this year, ended the campaign fifth in the standings with 155 points.
Its highlight of the season came at the Hungarian Grand Prix, where Ocon fended off Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel to secure his maiden victory in F1.
Acknowledging that the team’s car wasn’t as strong as its 2020 predecessor, Ocon says the on-track results were due to the team’s internal growth.
“I think [we made] huge progress, everything we’ve done inside operationally, taking strategy decisions, looking after the tyres, looking after the car itself and getting the maximum out of it,” Ocon said.
“It’s been huge progress and I’m very pleased we’ve done that this year. Of course we got two podiums, almost three this season for the team with a car that didn’t perform as good as last year, I think we had not as good a package.
“We still managed to overcome these issues, get on top of it and still score very decent results. We want to keep going and once we are going to have the pace, we are going to be quite dangerous.”
Speaking about his victory in Hungary last August, Ocon added: “[The highlight of the year] was of course the win in Budapest.
“The moment that I stepped on the car and saw the supporters, the fans in the grandstand cheering for that moment… I think this is mega.
“This is what we live for, this is why we push for good results.”
