Hungaroring (Hungary) (AFP)

Esteban Ocon joined on Sunday, by winning the Hungarian Grand Prix, the very select club of French winners in Formula 1, alongside the quadruple world champion Alain Prost and the last two winners to date, Olivier Panis in 1996 in Monaco and Pierre Gasly last year at Monza.

Son of a modest family who bled in all four veins to finance his career, the native of Évreux (Normandy) waited for his 78th Grand Prix in the elite to achieve the dream of all pilots: to ride on the most high step of the podium and become the 14th French winner in F1.

And the one who has long dreamed of becoming a Mercedes driver, being a reserve driver for the German team, has achieved the feat behind the wheel of a modest Alpine-Renault, normally not cut out for winning, at the end of a Grand Amazing price.

"What a moment, it feels so good. We had a difficult time this season but we kept working. I don't know what to say, it's just fantastic. It's teamwork", a- he reacted before getting on the podium.

At Mercedes as a reserve driver in 2019, he spent hours in the simulator in England, sometimes whole nights, helping to fine-tune Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas' single-seaters who were battling them on the track.

A thankless task in the image of his discretion which hides an iron determination.

Ejected from Racing Point at the end of 2018 to make way for Lance Stroll, whose father financed the team, then bought it out, Esteban feared for a moment that he would never return to F1.

But after a sabbatical year he ended up at Renault, which became Alpine in 2021.

- Desert crossing -

He was joined there by a double world champion, Fernando Alonso, and the prognoses were balanced: some thought that the young Esteban would disgust the "old" Fernando, who just turned 40 on Thursday, and others the reverse.

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And if Alonso had taken the measure of his young opponent during the last races, since this Sunday, it is Ocon who leads 1-0 in the number of victories at Alpine.

"My personal goals are to get the most out of the car in all races. To tell yourself when you've finished the weekend that there is nothing you can do better," said the French in mid-February, before the start of this season.

After a good start to the season, he had a long journey through the desert at the end of spring.

His Alpine team changed everything on his single-seater before the Grand Prix at Silverstone.

Everything is in order for the slender 1.90m rider, who signed until 2024 with Alpine.

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This Sunday at the Hungaroring, Ocon, well placed on the grid, had a perfect race, making the most of the clashes at the first corner.

He resisted until the end three world champions, Alonso, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton, 13 world titles between them, and he was rewarded at the end of the suspense.

A little over six months after his first podium in F1 (2nd at the Sakhir GP in Bahrain), Ocon has finally realized one of his childhood dreams: to win in F1.

At 24 years old.

Like Pierre Gasly last year at Monza.

And a few days after the death of Jean-Pierre Jaussaud, another Normand, double winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans ... in an Alpine.

There's no hazard.

© 2021 AFP