Alexander Albon (P12): 7/10
Williams weren't at their best this weekend - none of the teams at the back looked particularly healthy in the high altitude of Mexico City, and it didn't help ALbon that he had to give his seat away to prospective 2023 team mate Logan Sargeant in FP1. Despite the setback he was still tenth in final practice suggesting he had a good chance of making it into the second round of qualifying at least. Instead he missed the first cut altogether and was only P19 ahead of his current team mate Nicholas Latifi as a result of the temperatures picking causing the FW44 to lose too much grip. He was hardly optimistic about his race prospects - "you think it would be easy to overtake here, but it's actually quite difficult" - but Albon made solid progress in the opening laps as he swiftly dispatched the two Haas cars. After Lance Stroll pitted on lap 17 he was up to 16th behind Pierre Gasly; he made his own stop 21 laps later and afterwards found himself tracking Sebastian Vettel. Having switched from medium tyres to softs, he was more combative and got ahead of Vettel on lap 51, then picking up two more places when Yuki Tsunoda and Fernando Alonso retired leaving him in 12th at the finish. No points, but Albon was content with the day's work: "Honestly I'm really happy with today," he said after arguably his best drive since he was sidelined at Monza.
Pierre Gasly (P11): 6.5/10
Pierre Gasly continues to give the impression of someone who can't wait to move on to pastures new. Although he was ninth quickest in first practice, he fell to 15th in FP3 and it looked touch-and-go as to whether he would survive the first cut in qualifying. He did, and finished the session 14th fastest, but it was one place below his AlphaTauri team mate Yuki Tsunoda. Come the race, Gasly began on a set of mediums but lost ground at the start and fell behind the fast-starting Lance Stroll. He remained stuck behind the Aston Martin before barging his way through on lap 13, earning himself a penalty for forcing the Canadian off track in the process. It left him wedged behind Stroll's team mate Sebastian Vettel. Both men were on extended first stints, and when Gasly came back out on lap 40 he found himself behind Alex Albon who was on a similar medium/soft tyre strategy. Gasly remained stuck behind the Williams until finally making a move with four laps to go, by which time it was too late to do anything about catching Valtteri Bottas for the final championship point on offer.
