Sebastian Vettel (P10, 1 pt): 8.5/10
Given that he came into the weekend knowing he would be serving a grid penalty for a complete change of engine components that would drop him to the back for the start of the race, Sebastian Vettel would have been entirely forgiven if he'd just settled back and written this one off from the start. That certainly looked to be the case when he put in a couple of nondescript performances in Friday's free practice sessions. He then made a point of making it through to the second round of qualifying, doing enough to ensure that he would line up on the grid just ahead of the similarly penalised Fernando Alonso and George Russell. He picked up three places on the first lap of the race, which was not quite a match for Russell who initially flew past him, but he eventually used the Aston Martin's superior speed to pass the Williams on lap 9. Vettel had it all to do again when he came out behind the Williams after his first pit stop, but then made good speed when he settled in and followed Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi during the middle stages of the race. Once Alonso retired, Vettel passed Giovinazzi on lap 50 and then pressured Raikkonen into a mistake on lap 52. By the time the chequered flag greeted him across the line he was left holding a prized point for his sterling efforts. "It was a good recovery after the grid penalty," he said. "With a couple more laps we would have caught Tsunoda, but from where we started I think scoring a point is a good result."
Yuki Tsunoda (P9, 2 pts): 7.5/10
After a disappointing performance last time out in Turkey, Yuki Tsunoda really needed a confidence-building success in the United States. Happily that's what he got, with a morale-boosting points finish that proved especially important given the early exit of his AlphaTauri team mate Pierre Gasly from the day's proceedings. The Japanese driver had started shakily on Friday morning when he was only faster than the two Haas cars, but he methodically picked it up as the weekend progressed and he made what was a slightly surprising appearance in the final top ten pole shoot-out round of qualifying after surviving the cut at the end of Q2. That put him on the grid in tenth albeit at the cost of starting on the soft compound, which was no one's preferred strategy at COTA. Even so he was able to get the jump on Valtteri Bottas on the first lap, who had run wide while tangling with Tsunoda's team mate Pierre Gasly. Although he stayed ahead of Bottas during the first round of pit stops, the Mercedes' superior pace inevitably proved too much on lap 19. After the second round of pit stops, Tsunoda took up a position in ninth place behind Lando Norris and that was where he stayed until the chequered flag having put in a calm and composed display of the ability we hope to see more of from the rookie in the future.
