Ocon surprised by Alonso: 'Many people have warned me'

Prior to the 2021 season, Esteban Ocon was frequently warned about his teammate, two-time world champion Fernando Alonso. After two gap years, the Spaniard made his return to Formula 1 and it was expected that Alonso would be a lot faster than the Frenchman.

In Hungary, however, Ocon proved that he is also fast, with an important win for Alpine. "I saw a lot of things from a lot of different people who warned me and told me what they heard again from others," Ocon explained to Motorsport.com.

It was expected that there would be tension between Ocon and Alonso, but just the opposite happened. "Of course we are not fighting for the title, maybe then it would be different, but for now we haven't really had any problems," he said.

"I enjoy working with Fernando immensely. I think we have a good relationship between us and things are going very well so far". Alonso played a key role in Hungary, keeping a chasing Lewis Hamilton behind him for extended periods, giving Ocon just enough margin to win.