Fernando Alonso, Ocon's first F1 victory is "a fluke once in 100 years"[F1-Gate.com]

Fernando Alonso has delivered a surprise assessment of former team-mate Esteban Ocon’s unexpected 2021 F1 victory.

Last year’s F1 Hungarian GP was a chaotic race. Valtteri He caused mayhem when Bottas locked his front tires on a wet track, colliding with both Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, causing a red flag.

When the race resumed, the track was fairly dry. Pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton was the only driver lined up on the grid, while the rest of the field pitted to change to slicks along with the safety car.

This made Esteban Ocon the de facto leader, a position he held until the checkered flag.

Neither Esteban Ocon nor Fernando Alonso managed to finish on the podium in 22 races, despite this year’s Alpine looking a more competitive car than its predecessor.

“We didn’t win on merit,” said Fernando Alonso when asked why the results were not comparable to 2021 despite the improvement.

“What happened in Hungary last year was a big accident that could happen only once in 100 years.”

“And the podium after that. We had our chances in Canada and Australia, but we lost them because of us.”

Alpine F1 Team has regained at least some prestige from the season by finishing fourth in the Constructors’ Championship after a season-long duel with McLaren.

Alonso, who will move to Aston Martin over the winter, said the Alpine F1 team was “in some ways similar to last year”.

“But when you’re not fighting for the championship, being fourth or fifth doesn’t make much of a difference.”