Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso have escaped sanction following their collision during the São Paulo sprint shootout.
After an investigation by the stewards, they found that neither driver “was wholly or predominantly to blame” for the incident that occurred in the final minute of the opening SQ1 session, meaning that each driver was as culpable as the other.
Emerging out of the Senna S at the start of a hot lap, Ocon ran over a kerb, resulting in him getting out of shape as he bore down on Alonso who was on a cool-down lap.
Although Alonso was on the outside line on the approach to Turn 3, onboard footage showed him steering towards the left to take the sweeping Turn 3 left-hander, perhaps believing he had left plenty of room for Ocon.
The fact Ocon was seemingly not in control of his A523, with Alonso to his right, resulted in heavy contact as the right-rear of the Alpine connected with the front-left of the Aston Martin.
The impact resulted in Ocon spinning backward and hitting a barrier at high speed, causing severe damage to his car, whilst the AMR23 sustained front-wing damage and a puncture.
A stewards’ statement confirmed what unfolded as it determined that “Alonso was aware that Ocon was approaching at high speed on the exit of turn 2. Thus, Alonso moved off of the racing line so that Ocon could pass.
“At turn 3, Ocon lost the balance of the car and went wide on the exit. At the same time, Alonso turned more towards the racing line giving less room for Ocon. The combination of these two elements led to the collision.”
The damage to the Alpine was considerable, with the team forced to change the front wing, left-side front suspension, complete gearbox and suspension, rear wing, floor and left-hand side bodywork.
Although reaching Q2, Alonso was unable to compete due to the damage to his Aston Martin, so will start 15th, one place ahead of Ocon who failed to make it out of Q1 on the basis of his sole hot lap during the session.
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