Norris beats Verstappen to pole for tonight’s Sprint | Ocon-Alonso collide

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Esteban Ocon has a huge coming together with Fernando Alonso during the Sprint Shootout of the Sao Paulo GP.

Lando Norris made up for some of the disappointment of Friday evening’s qualifying in Brazil by hitting straight back to beat Max Verstappen to pole for Saturday evening’s Sprint at the Sao Paulo GP.

Having ended the opening day of track action in Brazil “gutted” to qualify only sixth for Sunday’s main Grand Prix, Norris delivered on the pace he and McLaren had threatened on Friday to head the field in the Sprint Shootout.

It was Norris’ first pole for the short-form race but resurgent McLaren’s second in the last three Sprint weekends. The 24-lap Sprint, which offers points to the top eight finishers, starts at 6.30pm live on Sky Sports F1.

Norris is yet to win either a Sprint or a Grand Prix in his F1 career so far.

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Lando Norris felt his first few turns were ‘terrible’ but it was a ‘pleasant surprise’ to claim his first shootout pole for McLaren.

Verstappen, who has pole for Sunday, finished 0.061s behind Norris with his Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez respectably close behind in third despite only having used soft tyres available for his final run.

George Russell edged out Lewis Hamilton to be the lead Mercedes on the grid in fourth. Ferrari however suffered disappointment with Charles Leclerc (seventh) and Carlos Sainz (ninth) each outqualified by one AlphaTauri, who proved the surprise package of Saturday’s Shootout after a double Q1 elimination not even 24 hours before.

In the weekend’s most dramatic on-track moment so far, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon collided with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso at the end of the opening knockout segment, SQ1, and crashed into the barriers.

Ocon, starting a fast lap, came up quickly behind Alonso, on a cool-down lap, exiting the Senna S and the two came together after the Alpine went over the kerb and slid into the Aston Martin. Over team radio, an incensed Ocon though blamed his former team-mate – who he labelled an “idiot” – seemingly feeling Alonso had not left him enough room on the inside.

After clambering out of his car after it had rear-ended the barriers on the outside of the track, Ocon was cleared by doctors in a precautionary check up at the medical centre. He then went to visit race stewards, with the clash under investigation.

“The more I see it the more I think the majority of the incident was Esteban losing control of the car and having to scoop it up,” said Sky F1’s Martin Brundle.

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Fernando Alonso thinks his crash with Esteban Ocon was one of those moments, after his Aston Martin had to retire from the Sprint Shootout of the Sao Paulo GP.

“He will say it was because Alonso’s car was ‘parked in the middle of the road’. Then I think there were some contributing circumstances from Fernando there: slow, didn’t really move that far right, and was sort of giving a bit of left-had lock. But he was going around a left-hand corner.

“I’ll be surprised if anything more comes from that other than an unfortunate incident.”

With Ocon’s car out of the session on the spot, Alonso was unable to take up his place in SQ2 due to damage sustained in the collision. The Spaniard will start from 15th.

Sao Paulo Sprint Shootout result – Top 10
1) Lando Norris, McLaren, 1:10.622
2) Max Verstappen, Red Bull, +0.061
3) Sergio Perez, Red Bull, +0.134
4) George Russell, Mercedes, +0.235
5) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, +0.318
6) Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri, +0.397
7) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, +0.455
8) Daniel Ricciardo, AlphaTauri, +0.500
9) Carlos Sainz, Ferrari, +0.504
10) Oscar Piastri, McLaren, +0.567

More to follow…

When to watch the Sao Paulo GP live only on Sky Sports F1

Saturday November 4

• 5.30pm: Sprint build-up
• 6.30pm: SAO PAULO SPRINT
• 8pm: Ted’s Sprint Notebook

Sunday November 5

• 3.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Sao Paulo GP build-up
• 5pm: THE SAO PAULO GRAND PRIX
• 7pm: Chequered Flag: Sao Paulo GP reaction
• 8pm: Ted’s Notebook

F1 is in Brazil for the final leg of the Americas triple header and the last Sprint weekend of the 2023 season. Watch every session from the Sao Paulo Grand Prix live on Sky Sports F1, with Sunday’s race at 5pm. Stream F1 on Sky Sports with NOW