Esteban Ocon (P6, 8 pts): 8.5/10
Alpine was looking delightfully pretty in pink this week, in the second race sporting BWT-inspired livery before it reverts to a more of a blue hue in Australia. Esteban Ocon was also in strong form when it came to the timesheets, finishing all three practice sessions in the top ten and ahead of team mate Fernando Alonso. Both drivers made it through to the final round of qualifying with Ocon taking P5 on the grid. He dropped one place to George Russell in the opening laps putting him right ahead of Alonso who had started in P7. The team mates then embarked on the most remarkable no-holds-barred fight for position, and disaster for Alpine looked just inches away before the pit wall got on the team radio to finally settle things down. By the time he was told to hold position, Ocon had been passed by Alonso. He lost further places by pitting just before the safety car was scrambled for Nicholas Latifi's accident, meaning he didn't get the same 'free' stop Alonso did. The pair were held apart for much of the next stint by Valtteri Bottas, but this stand-off came to an end on lap 36 with the retirements of both Bottas and Alonso clearing the way for Ocon to move up to eighth. He gained more places when the cars that had started on the hard compound pitted, but was given a hard run for his money by Lando Norris in the final minutes with Ocon narrowly succeeding in coming out on top in the last lap.
George Russell (P5, 10 pts): 8.5/10
George Russell doubtless thought that his promotion to Mercedes from Williams meant he would be competing for podiums, victories and possibly even championships in 2022. The currently enfeebled state of the W13 has made this impossible, and the sad plight of Lewis Hamilton has been one of the shocks of the first two races of the season. In contrast, Russell has come out of the situation with his already shining reputation burnished even brighter. Hamilton might have been ahead of Russell throughout practice, but there was an emphatic momentum shift in qualifying where Hamilton missed the cut at the end of Q1 while Russell seemed to make easy work of progressing to the final round and duly picking up a very respectable sixth place on the grid. He made an early pass on Esteban Ocon and then spent the entire remainder of the race in fifth, firstly shadowing Carlos Sainz and then after the safety car restart he found himself following pole sitter and former race leader Sergio Perez. The superior pace of the Red Bull and Ferrari cars was vividly shown by how Russell dropped 20 seconds behind the top four despite a late Virtual Safety Car neutralising things for a spell. The W13 itself is clearly discombobulated, but Russell has rarely looked quite so assured and composed in his five seasons to date in F1.
