Esteban Ocon (P10, 1 pt): 6/10
After Esteban Ocon Failed to survive the first round of qualifying, Alpine decided there was little lost by making adjustments to his car in parc ferme even though that meant starting the race from pit lane. As the big fish in a small pond right at the back, he made appropriately quick work picking off the slower backmarkers around him once the race got underway. He was up to ninth place by the time he pitted under the fortuitously timed first safety car and took the second restart in 12th. He climbed to P8 by staying out until lap 45 before calling in for his second and final service. The strategy didn't work out for him and he dropped to the back as a result, but the fresh tyres saw him scythe past Nicholas Latifi, Mick Schumacher, Zhou Guanyu and Alex Albon to finish just outside the points. It was bitter sweet when he was promoted to tenth soon after: while it came with a shiny new point, it had been at the expense of his team Fernando Alonso.
Yuki Tsunoda (P9, 2 pts): 7/10
It had been 12 races since Yuki Tsunoda last finished in the top ten and claimed points - the most recent occasion had been in the Spanish GP back in May. Practice in Austin didn't seem to suggest there would be any change to this pattern - 14th in FP1, 16th in FP3, and never mind what happened in the tyre test - but he nonetheless managed to make it through to the second round of qualifying. Unfortunately he was one of a number of drivers with penalties for taking additional power unit components meaning he started last on the grid in 19th (Esteban Ocon lining up at the end of pit lane). But he got a terrific start, gaining five places on the first lap alone, and an early pit stop meant he gained when others subsequently came in for service and then from the two safety cars. He was in seventh when he made his second stop on lap 33, after which he found himself trapped behind Zhou Guanyu in 12th. He finally passed the Alfa Romeo on lap 51 and then Alex Albon on lap 54, and got an extra place handed to him by Fernando Alonso's post-race penalty. He'll be pretty satisfied with that outcome.
