Minichamps 1:43 Alpine A523 – Esteban Ocon, Bahrain GP 2023 Art. 417230131

A 1:43 model of the Alpine A523 as raced by Esteban Ocon at the 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix, in the BWT blue and pink livery. Limited to 288 pieces — one of the smallest runs in the range. Resin, in a protective display case.

He won a Grand Prix from a crash

Ocon's single Formula One victory came at the Hungaroring in 2021, and the way it happened is worth knowing.

Rain fell before the start. On the run to the first corner, Valtteri Bottas misjudged his braking and took out four cars in one movement — including both Red Bulls and Lando Norris. The race was red-flagged.

At the restart, every driver except Lewis Hamilton dived into the pits for dry tyres. Hamilton, alone, stayed out, and found himself leading a formation lap of one before pitting a lap later and rejoining last.

Ocon, who had been running fifth before the chaos, emerged in the lead. He then held off Sebastian Vettel for 65 laps with a two-stop disadvantage and no realistic pace advantage, and won by 1.8 seconds.

Alpine has not won a race since. In a sport where the same three teams win everything, a victory of that kind is what most drivers get instead of a career of them.

288 pieces

This is among the smallest print runs in the Minichamps Formula One range. Minichamps sets each run by expected demand, which follows the driver's following rather than the car — so a midfield driver's model is consistently the scarcer object, and the one that becomes hard to find first.

In the range

Set 417230110 is his team-mate Pierre Gasly's car from the same race.

Specifications

Scale: 1:43 · Limited to 288 pieces · Resin · Protective display case · Age: 14+