McLaren F1 driver Lando Norris won the 2023 Sao Paulo Grand Prix Sprint Shootout at Interlagos Circuit.
Sprint shootout saw an early red flag when Alpine driver Esteban Ocon, on a flying lap, collided with Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso on a slow lap.
The Alpine driver lost control of his car in coming out of turn two into turn three and slid into the front rear of Fernando Alonso. The collision sent Ocon spinning into the barrier, destroying the rear of his car.
Ocon's previous fastest time was not enough to make it into SQ2. Drivers caught out by the red flag include Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant, both driving for Williams.
Zhou Guanyu, driving for Alfa Romeo, also got caught out by red flags, his time only being enough for P18. Lance Stroll was not able to repeat his success from Friday and also didn't make it out of SQ1.
Alonso could not continue in the session because of the damage he suffered during the contact with Ocon. Therefore, he placed P15. Valtteri Bottas was only fast enough for P14.
Pierre Gasly came out on team radio after his lap to say it was a good lap, but he could not make it into further parts of the qualifying as he finished in P13.
The two Haas drivers finished on the cusp of the top ten, Kevin Magnussen in P11 and Nico Hulkenberg in P12. To score at least one point in the Sprint, they will need to achieve P8.
AlphTauri will be pleased with Sprint Shootout results after the unsuccessful Qualifying session on Friday. Daniel Ricciardo achieved P8 and Yuki Tsunoda P6.
Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were only fast enough for P7 and P9 today. Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton achieved the same position as in Friday Qualifying - P5.
His teammate George Russell improved and scored a P4. Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, who were pretty closely matched throughout the session, scored P2 and P3.
And finally, it was mixed results for McLaren as, on one hand, Oscar Piastri achieved only P10, but on the other hand, Lando Norris scored pole position with the best time of 1:10.622.
Position | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
1. | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1:11.824 | 1:11.221 | 1:10.622 |
2. | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:11.888 | 1:11.262 | 1:10.683 |
3. | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 1:12.218 | 1:11.230 | 1:10.756 |
4. | George Russell | Mercedes | 1:11.976 | 1:11.516 | 1:10.857 |
5. | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:11.870 | 1:11.476 | 1:10.940 |
6. | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 1:12.358 | 1:11.676 | 1:11.019 |
7. | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:12.107 | 1:11.473 | 1:11.077 |
8. | Daniel Ricciardo | AlphaTauri | 1:12.175 | 1:11.423 | 1:11.122 |
9. | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 1:11.796 | 1:11.491 | 1:11.126 |
10. | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 1:12.356 | 1:11.648 | 1:11.189 |
11. | Kevin Magnussen | Has | 1:12.058 | 1:11.727 | |
12. | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | 1:12.136 | 1:11.752 | |
13. | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 1:12.229 | 1:11.822 | |
14. | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | 1:12.303 | 1:11.872 | |
15. | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 1:12.224 | No Time | |
16. | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 1:12.388 | ||
17. | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 1:12.482 | ||
18. | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo | 1:12.497 | ||
19. | Alex Albon | Williams | 1:12.525 | ||
20. | Logan Sargeant | Williams | 1:12.615 |