Lance Stroll (P6, 8 pts): 7.5/10
Lance Stroll seemed to be enjoying himself in Singapore with a sustained strong run in practice whatever the conditions (P8, P10 and P6) and consistently quicker than his team mate Sebastian Vettel. A spot in the final round of qualifying seemed assured, but then Aston Martin sent Stroll and Vettel out for their final Q2 on soft slicks and it was proved too soon for that gambit, causing Stroll to miss the cut and finish 12th quickest. George Russell's absence from the grid and a spat between Kevin Magnussen and Max Verstappen helped Stroll into the top ten at the end of the first lap, but Verstappen was soon flying past him. Stroll kept his head down and was plugging away, with retirements and safety cars raising him to eighth place on lap 33 at which point he was able to get ahead of Vettel during the pit stops for slick tyres. That was pretty much it for Stroll: from there, he followed Daniel Ricciardo to the line in what had proved to be a remarkably effective if low-key outing for the Canadian. Both drivers finishing in the points has boosted Aston ahead of Haas and AlphaTauri in the constructors standings.
Daniel Ricciardo (P5, 10 pts): 8.5/10
With just six races remaining before his tenure at McLaren comes to an unfortunate premature end, it initially looked like Singapore would be another exercise in futility and frustration for Daniel Ricciardo. Lacking the latest sidepod upgrades on the MCL36, he finished Friday's practice sessions in 18th place while Lando Norris had bounced back from a poor start in FP1 to be within toughing distance of the top ten. Saturday's wet final practice was hardly representative, but it seemed to put a spring in Ricciardo's stride and he was tenth quickest; unfortunately that didn't translate to similar success in qualifying and he once again missed the first cut to finish in 17th. No way back from there on a track notorious for being difficult to overtake on, then, obviously. But he got a great start, picking up four places on the first lap, and then hunkered down to keep plugging away. He resisted the temptation to pit for slicks under two Virtual Safety Cars and it was only when the real deal presented itself after Yuki Tsunoda crashed that Ricciardo finally came in. It was the 'free' sop that drivers dream of, and he took the restart in fifth just behind Norris, bound for his best result since the 2021 Saudi Arabian GP. "We did everything right. We maximised a top five and it was a big one for the team in the championship."
