Lando Norris set the fastest time of the Sprint Shootout to recover from a frustrating qualifying at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, in a session held up by a collision between Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso.
There was no rain to disrupt proceedings but the session was still delayed after the bizarre crash, when the Alpine was starting a flying lap and Alonso had backed off so was on the outside of Turn 3 letting cars through. While Alonso appeared to tighten his line just as Ocon was set to pass, the Frenchman had a snap of oversteer that pushed him wide and he hit his former teammate, sending Ocon flying into the barrier on the outside of the track at high speed.
The crash red flagged SQ1 and ended it prematurely, leading to Ocon being eliminated alongside Lance Stroll, Zhou Guanyu, Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant. The incident also meant the clean-up operation and barrier checks delayed the start of SQ2, with Aston Martin unable to repair Alonso’s car in time to take part.
The second session started just four minutes before the whole qualifying session should have ended, but it was worth the wait for the likes of Norris and Ricciardo, who impressed with the fastest and fourth-fastest times respectively. Norris achieved his on used mediums in another sign of the raw pace McLaren failed to capitalize on on Friday, while Ricciardo managed his time with just one run.