Lance Stroll (Accident, Lap 22): 6/10
Aston Martin are looking better and better the closer we get to the end of the season. Lance Stroll was ninth in final practice, and this accurately forecast a successful qualifying session that saw him get through to the final round. Once the grid penalties for engine updates were applied to drivers ahead of him, he started the race from fifth. When Carlos Sainz and George Russell clashed in the first corner, Stroll found himself in the top three, but he was soon brought down to earth when he was passed by Russell and Sergio Perez. After pitting, he was in P8 when the first safety car was scrambled. At the restart he ended up clashing with Fernando Alonso which mangled the rear end of the AMR22 too badly to allow him to continue. To rub salt in the wound he'll have to serve a grid drop in Mexico after stewards deemed he had caused the accident that ended his day prematurely.
Nicholas Latifi (P17): 3.5/10
After an unexpected triumph last time out in Japan, it was normal service resumed for Nicholas Latifi. He sat out FP1 in favour of his prospective replacement at Williams, Logan Sargeant and was slowest in FP2, not that it meant much as it was little more than a Pirelli tyre test. He wasn't bottom in FP3, but he was subsequently slowest of anyone in the first round of qualifying. In the race he made an early mistake with the balance in the high-speed corners and spun off. The safety cars helped get him back in the fight and he was running ahead of McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo for the latter third of the race, but the stewards felt he had forced Mick Schumacher off at turn 12 and handed him a five second penalty. Don't worry, Nick - three more races to go and it's all over.
