Yuki Tsunoda (P12): 5.5/10
Last time out in Imola saw one of Yuki Tsunoda's best weekends to date for AlphaTauri, even managing to come out on top against his highly rated team mate Pierre Gasly in the process. Not so this week, which in any case was not the greatest for the team as a whole. Tsunoda seemed to struggling initially to get to grips with the new Miami circuit, but made gradual improvement across the practice sessions and then impressed in qualifying by making it all the way through to join Gasly in the Q3 and line up in P9 on Sunday. He lost out to Fernando Alonso at the start, and was mugged by both Haas cars on lap 5, before becoming the first driver to pit for new tyres on lap 10. Quite why the team thought this might be a successful strategy is unclear, because Tsunoda spent almost the entirety of the race from there vying with Nicholas Latifi for last place. While he eventually saw off the Williams it was far from a convincing performance, especially compared to Gasly's game effort to finish in the top ten. A number of late accidents, incidents (including a costly one for Gasly) and penalties meant he ended up in 12th but this was very much a case of the result flattering to deceive.
Fernando Alonso (P11): 6.5/10
Whatever you think of the two-time world champion, Fernando Alonso has fire and commitment enough for any number of young guns half his age. Unfortunately his combative nature can also run him into trouble, as it did this weekend in Miami where he would have finished in the points if not for two costly penalties. He was fifth fastest at the end of Friday, but spent Saturday effectively on his own after a high-speed impact for Esteban Ocon put his Alpine team mate out of the running for qualifying and leaving Alonso to fly the team colours. He just failed to make it through to Q3, but the absence of both Aston Martins on the grid gave him an immediate boost come the race. He shot past Lewis Hamilton, Lando Norris and Yuki Tsunoda at the start to climb up to seventh by the end of the first lap, but Hamilton recovered on lap 3 and Norris was also able to get past on lap 14. At this point, Alonso headed for pit lane to replace his waning soft tyres with a set of the hard compound. He then found himself stuck behind Pierre Gasly for the next 20 laps, until he ran out of patience and made a dive down the inside of turn 1 only to crunch into the side of the AlphaTauri, for which he received his first five-second penalty of the day. He spent the remainder of the race in P8 tracking the three-way battle between George Russell, Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas ahead of him, with Ocon now protecting his rear. When he crossed the line it looked like he had picked up points for the team, only for the race stewards to weigh in with a second penalty (for leaving the track and gaining an advantage) which dropped him to 11th and leaving him empty-handed for all his efforts.
