Esteban Ocon (P4, 12 pts): 9/10
Esteban Ocon was somewhat in the shade for much of this weekend, with the spotlight as always on his current Alpine team mate Fernando Alonso, and by the announcement of his compatriot Pierre Gasly heading to Enstone in 2023. But Ocon got his head down and got to work: while Alonso was quickest in FP1, Ocon wasn't far off in fourth. Alonso continued to be faster in FP2 and FP3, but when it came to qualifying it was Ocon who sneaked ahead and claimed fifth on the grid, while Alonso was left lining up behind in seventh leaving Lewis Hamilton as the meat in the Alpine sandwich when the lights went out for the start of the race on Sunday. Although unable to do anything about Sergio Perez ahead of him, Ocon was more than up to the task of preventing Hamilton from pouncing, and after Carlos Sainz' early exit he spent all but two laps running in fourth to the line.
Charles Leclerc (P3, 15 pts): 9/10
It was always an outside chance that Charles Leclerc would be able to do anything to stop Max Verstappen from clinching the world championship - if not this week, then next time out in the United States. But to give the Monegasque all due credit, he tried his level best to stave off the inevitable this week at Suzuka. He was third in FP1 but struggled in the elongated second session and was only 11th. When Verstappen topped final practice in the dry, it was something of an inevitability that the Red Bull would go on to also win pole in qualifying. Leclerc's last chance was to snatch control at the start, and he did - but Verstappen would not, could not be denied and promptly grabbed back the lead into turn 2. Leclerc ended up with high tyre degradation on the intermediate that left the Ferrari vulnerable to increasing pressure from Sergio Perez. Leclerc made an error on the final lap that earned him a five second penalty, and that was all it took for Verstappen to seal the title battle.
