The collision happened during the Sprint Shootout, with Alonso’s former Alpine team-mate Esteban Ocon slamming into Alonso’s car and spinning off track. Despite his role in the incident, Ocon blamed Alonso, calling the Spaniard a “f***ing idiot” over the radio, via the Mirror, while Alonso himself said: “He went into me.”

The crash ended both drivers’ sessions, leaving Alonso to settle for 15th on the Sprint grid. Both drivers were called in by the stewards after the session to explain their actions.

However, as both drivers seemed to have a part in the crash, it’s unlikely any penalties will be handed out.

Lando Norris bounced back from a lacklustre qualifying session on Friday, nabbing pole for the Sprint. He managed to edge out Max Verstappen by a few hundredths of a second, while Sergio Perez was hot on their heels.

 

Fernando Alonso was team-mate with Ocon at Alpine (Image: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

George Russell was quicker than Norris in the first two sectors of his final flying lap. But he lost time in the last part of the circuit and ended up fourth on the grid, just ahead of Lewis Hamilton who didn’t pose much of a threat for pole.

AlphaTauri also shrugged off their poor qualifying performance to show impressive one-lap speed in the Shootout. Yuki Tsunoda confessed after the session that he was surprised to clock the sixth fastest time, while Daniel Ricciardo also made it to SQ3 and will be chuffed to start the short-form race from eighth.