The driver who entered the Hungarian Grand Prix 13th in the standings, following a slump, wound up as Formula 1’s 111th different winner. How did Esteban Ocon and Alpine end up savouring an unlikely success?
Bottas and Stroll blunder
It was somewhat fitting that Valtteri Bottas and Lance Stroll hugely facilitated Ocon’s victory; Bottas was retained by Mercedes at Ocon’s expense a couple of years ago, and Ocon was replaced at Force India by Stroll, triggering his year on the sidelines.
It was inevitable that someone would blunder given the slippery conditions but few would have anticipated such carnage.
After a slow getaway Bottas erred under braking for Turn 1, rear-ended Lando Norris, who in the process swiped into the side of Max Verstappen. Bottas’ terminally damaged car took him into Sergio Perez, causing race-ending damage to the Red Bull, while fifth-placed starter Pierre Gasly was forced to take evasive action. Slightly further back Fernando Alonso went a little too deep into Turn 1 as well.
Lance Stroll also went too deep – but was on the inside and had nowhere to go, even taking to the grass in a desperate attempt to avoid contact. Stroll clattered into Charles Leclerc, causing terminal damage to both cars, with the Ferrari pushed into McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, who spun.
Ocon, from eighth on the grid, slipped past the two accident zones into second, followed by Sebastian Vettel.
Not only was Ocon in a spectacular position but potential candidates Perez, Norris and Bottas were out, with title leader Verstappen in a deeply wounded car, and way down the order.
Hamilton lines up alone
Hamilton still led the pack and was firmly favourite – but found himself at the head of the train in exceptionally unusual circumstances. The track was drying but Mercedes cautiously kept him out for the standing restart, wary of the risk of switching to slicks too prematurely, while also conscious that its placement within the pit lane meant that it would likely lose out massively if others also stopped.
“It was very surprising to see the entire field on Inters and then it was even more surprising to see everyone peel off behind us,” explained Mercedes’ Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin. “But when you’re first garage you’ve got the disadvantage that when you come in and do your stop you’ve got a train of cars following you in who all have boxes further down the pit lane. Looking at it, given there’s no way Lewis could have found five seconds on a formation lap as everyone is bunching up, we think we would have been best case P6 on the road, worst case P10, but it still would have been messy.
“We go back to the real mistake, which is that we should have rolled out of the pit lane on dries, as should have everyone, because then you don’t need to make the stop. It was unfortunate, we had an easy opportunity to win the race that we failed to take.”
It was swiftly abundantly clear that the circuit was indeed good enough for slicks and Hamilton duly ducked into the pit lane at the end of the lap. That elevated Ocon into the lead – but only after George Russell’s cheeky attempt at passing rivals in the pits was frowned upon by the FIA and he gave up the positions at their request.
Pit stop movement hurts Sainz
Sainz had been one of the beneficiaries of the Turn 1 melee, rising from 15th on the grid – after his Q2 crash – to hold fourth. In left Sainz firmly in the mix for the podium, and potentially even the win, doubly so when Mercedes kept Hamilton out.
But Ferrari’s position in the pit lane meant he was one of the drivers to lose spots when most of the field came in for slick tyres.
Sainz came in as the third car, behind Ocon and Vettel, but was usurped by Williams’ Nicholas Latifi and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda. Both then drove superbly and kept track position at a circuit where a large delta is required to mount and overtake. By the time AlphaTauri triggered the pit sequence with Tsunoda, prompting Williams and Latifi to react, Sainz was 17 seconds behind the lead duo. In clear air he closed that gap but the damage had already been done.
Vettel’s half-chances fail
Vettel continued to press Ocon, never letting the Alpine break away, and it was Aston Martin who triggered the pit stop sequence – though Vettel suffered a critical time loss of around a second.
“I pushed really hard on the way in and probably a bit too hard and locked the rears and triggered the anti-stall,” he explained. “Then I pushed like crazy on the out-lap. It was close but… yeah. I tried, you know.”
Ocon narrowly remained ahead but still had to contend with blue flags – and at one stage presented Vettel with a half-chance as they lapped Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi.
“I was not enjoying blue flags, I have to say,” said Ocon. “Blue flags and me is not a great story, either behind or now in front. Yeah, it was very, very close. Once I got the dirty air, I think we were a little bit slower overall than Sebastian in this race and that slowed me down, basically. I was struggling to get into the blue flag or Antonio, for him to clear, and Sebastian got DRS because of that, and yeah, I mean he almost made a move. He was very, very close. A bit too close for comfort.”
Alonso’s expert defending
Hamilton sat marooned in fourth, unable to overhaul Sainz, prompting Mercedes to bring in Hamilton once more – replicating the approach with which it won the 2019 race.
In clear air, and on fresher tyres, Hamilton closed a 14-second deficit to Alonso in just six laps, drawing to within nine seconds of leader Ocon with 16 laps still to run. Alonso subsequently displayed his supreme racecraft, perfectly placing his A521, to frustrate the World Champion. Hamilton took until lap 65 to pass Alonso, swiftly overhauled Sainz, and finished just 2.7s behind Ocon. Without Alonso’s persistence Ocon would have likely been reeled in by Hamilton.
“I knew more or less what the situation of the race was, I was looking at the big screens, I knew Esteban and Vettel were fighting and were two corners in front of us,” explained Alonso.
“And with 20 laps to the end, and Lewis coming 2-3 seconds faster, that was enough to win the race probably.
“I knew every lap I could hold him behind was gold for Esteban’s win.”
Ocon keeps the faith
It was a stern test for Ocon up front – chasing his first Formula 1 win, his first in any category since GP3 in 2015, as well as Alpine’s first in Formula 1. Ocon’s affiliation with the outfit stretches back to the early 2010s, when he trained there as a junior, having had spells as test driver in 2014 and 2016. He and Alpine recently committed to each other through at least 2024.
The shock win came after a miserable run, which reached its nadir in Austria, where Ocon was twice knocked out in Q1. Lengthy meetings followed, leading to the decision to change chassis, prompting a return to form at Silverstone.
“We were just talking about it with the team not too long ago, that the next step to get for us would be the top step, as we did P2 last year,” he said. “We were not expecting that to be [here], for sure. I can be thankful for the trust the team put in me, you know? We came from a moment, three difficult races, and the team gave me trust on that. We overcame the difficult situation and found our pace back in Silverstone and this weekend, I think it has been a great qualifying and a fantastic race.
“Of course, there have been a lot of incidents in that race but you know, as we are in the position, we are chasing opportunities the whole time. Today we got it, so what a moment. I will remember that forever.”
