'Wrong Place, Wrong Moment': Alonso Responds To Collision With Ocon

Sunday, 05 November 2023 at 03:00

Aston Martin F1 driver Fernando Alonso responded to a collision with the Alpine driver Esteban Ocon during the 2023 Sao Paulo Grand Prix Sprint Shootout.

The Sprint Shootout ended for Fernando Alonso earlier than he would have expected and hoped for, as he had to retire his car after a collision with Esteban Ocon.

The Aston Martin driver on an out lap went with a bit tighter line outside of turn three as he was letting Ocon on a flying lap pass. Unfortunately, the Frenchman lost his rear and went straight into the Spaniard as he corrected his car.

The Alpine driver clearly not happy with the incident labeled Alonso a "f**king idiot" on a team radio right after the incident. Though his car suffered great damage, Ocon was fortunately fine.

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Both Ocon and Alonso were summoned to stewards after the session to investigate the incident further. As quoted by motorsport.com, the Spanish matador told the media after the Sprint Shootout:

"Unfortunately, we could not complete qualifying. It is a shame with both cars out of qualifying and a lot of damage on both cars. Not the way we wanted [this to go]."

While mentioning this was obviously not the way he wanted the sprint shootout to end, Alonso admitted he had not seen the replay, but he described the incident with words "wrong place, wrong moment."

"I've not seen the replay yet, but someone told me that he lost the car a little bit. It's one of those situations - wrong place, wrong moment."

Alonso, with his teammate Lance Stroll, managed to score P4 and P3 on Friday's qualifying. It looked like the team would have a decent pace Sprint Shootout as well, but Stroll only achieved P17 and Alonso P15.

"We had great pace yesterday. We struggled a little bit more today in SQ1 to go through, so there are still some question marks on our pace. But I'm more confident than in Mexico and Austin, so hopefully, it will be a good race."