Fernando Alonso made it clear he is counting down the days until he can make his Aston Martin move after his latest run-in with Alpine team-mate Esteban Ocon.
They started in sixth and seventh on the grid, giving them a good opportunity to score points. But the Sprint was a disaster for them, as they made contact on the first lap which caused damage to both, forcing Alonso to pit for a front wing replacement.
The Spaniard was able to recover to 15th in the short-form race, while Ocon could manage only 18th. And that is where they will both start the main race on Sunday, in a blow to their chances of fending off the challenge of McLaren for fourth place in the constructors' championship.
Alonso has already announced he will be leaving for Aston Martin at the end of the season. And it is clear he cannot wait to move on from Alpine, after this latest in a string of on-track clashes with Ocon this year.
Asked if he had spoken with the Frenchman after their collision, Alonso replied: "No, not really – I don't need to. One more race and it's over, finally. I was very close to the wall in Jeddah, I think, close to the wall in Budapest, today in turn four. This is the way things are, sometimes it's very competitive inside the team. Yeah, it's one more race."
As for his chances on Sunday, he did seem a little more optimistic, adding: "[It's] far from ideal when you touch on the first lap in the Sprint race, because it's too short to come back without a Safety Car or anything. On the positive side, the pace of the car was really good today – close to the leaders, actually. So P15 tomorrow to start the race, and if we have this pace tomorrow we can still score points."
He was wearing a wry smile throughout that interview, and Ocon wore a similar expression as he spoke to the TV cameras. "It was unfortunate for the team really, what happened," he said. "We were in such good positions, and now we are at the back with a lot of work to do tomorrow.
"So it's going to be important tomorrow to work together to come back through the field. We've done that a thousand times in the last two years. It is unfortunate, what happened on lap one. I was trying to attack the McLaren, took my line into turn four and Fernando came out of nowhere on the outside, so we touched and from there on, my race was pretty much over. I'm quite calm."
George Russell was the winner of the Sprint, coming out on top in a spectacular battle with Max Verstappen for the lead which lasted for several laps. Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton also got past the Dutchman before the end, and the Mercedes drivers will share the front row of the grid for Sunday as the Spaniard has a five-place grid penalty.
