Valtteri Bottas (P3, 15 pts): 8.5/10
After briefly breaking cover last time out in Suzuka, Valtteri Bottas was largely back in stealth mode this weekend where the primary objective was to stop his Mercedes team mate from extending his points advantage by enough to put the drivers championship beyond doubt. He was quicker than Lewis Hamilton in FP2 and FP3, but proved unable to roll the advantage into qualifying. Bottas then made a crucial error right at the end of Q3, planting the W10 into the TechPro barrier at the end of the session, inadvertently costing Max Verstappen pole position in the process. Fortunately for Bottas an earlier lap time meant he was still able to start from P6 on the grid. He clashed for real with Verstappen in the race itself, but Bottas survived the encounter unscathed and his single-stop strategy then helped him get the better of both Alexander Albon and Charles Leclerc as the rest of the race unfolded. Finishing on the podium successfully achieved the objective of keeping the title fight alive to the next race in Texas, and overall Bottas himself was happy with his day's work - especially given how much damage his car had sustained in qualifying and how close he must have been to starting the race from pit lane.
