Kevin Magnussen (P8, 4 pts)): 6.5/10
Kevin Magnussen was sidelined by F1 veteran Antonio Giovinazzi taking his seat in FP1, and FP2 was effectively meaningless as far as comparisons were concerned, so it was only on Saturday that we finally got to see what the Dane could offer this week in Austin. It didn't look anything special - 14th in final practice, and then just missing the cut at the end of qualifying later in the day. Penalties for others on the grid boosted him to 13th for the start of Sunday's race, but he got caught up in the turn 1 mess and promptly dropped five places. You wouldn't expect him to finish the points after all that, but he did, and it was down to the team opting for a one stop strategy. He was P12 when he came in on lap 18 to trade hard tyres for mediums, and used the the fresh set to good advantage to reach a peak of sixth place. After that the tyres started to degrade and it was now a matter of survival, but Magnussen was up to the task. He lost an epic battle with Sebastian Vettel and crossed the line in ninth, but got the lost place back again thanks to Fernando Alonso's subsequent penalty.
©AstonMartin
Sebastian Vettel (P7, 6 pts): 9/10
Sebastian Vettel won the official F1 poll for driver of the day, and it's easy to see why. The closer the four-time champion gets to retiring, the more he looks like he's really enjoying himself and rediscovering a love of competition. Having been in the top ten in both FP1 and FP3, he was disappointed not to make it into the final pole shoot-out round in qualifying. Grid penalties for others promoted him to P10 on the grid, and an excellent start saw him jump up five places on the first lap alone - although Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc soon took two of those back. After pitting for the first time during the two safety cars, he was running in sixth behind George Russell; he even led the race for a couple of laps when those ahead made their stops. And then sadly it was all undone by an excruciating 16.8s pit stop on lap 42 that dropped him out of the top ten. Undeterred, he got his head down and dispatched Yuki Tsunoda, Zhou Guanyu and Alex Albon, and then made a successful final lap attack on Kevin Magnussen. It all left us with the feeling that he's departing the F1 stage far, far too soon.
