Lance Stroll (P10, 1 pt): 6.5/10
Ahead of Sebastian Vettel's departure and Fernando Alonso's arrival at Aston Martin, Lance Stroll is doing his best to flex his muscles and show that he has come of age and is worthy of being the de facto team leader in 2023. Well, good luck convincing Alonso of that. In the meantime the thought seems to be spurring him on and he's been getting his teeth stuck in - even if it means nearly taking out Vettel in the sprint race (having already clashed with Alonso in Austin). Stroll was handed a ten second post-race penalty for that "dangerous manoeuvre" which meant he lined up on the Grand Prix grid in 15th place, but the early antics of cars ahed of him helped promote him into the top ten after the first safety car restart. He got somewhat lost in the middle stint and the pit stops didn't help him, leaving him P13 behind the second safety car but crucially on a new set of soft tyres. He picked off Mick Schumacher at the restart and then soon dispatched Zhou Guanyu, before ejecting Vettel from the points on lap 65. Arguably a better result than he deserved, but that often happens in motorsport.
Valtteri Bottas (P9, 2 pts): 7/10
Following a fallow period over the summer, Alfa Romeo seems to be regaining its footing somewhat. After ten races finishing without a point, Valtteri Bottas was in the top ten in Mexico and went one better with P9 this weekend in Brazil - obviously the cool Finn loves those hot Central and South American vibes. After a strong first practice, Bottas was among those caught out by the wet conditions of qualifying and it was a surprise when he failed to make the first cut. he repaired some of the damage by gaining four places in the sprint, and benefitted from the mayhem ahead of him at the start and by staying out on his initial set of soft tyres until lap 24 which worked very well for him, helping him to peak in fifth place. He pitted a second time on lap 45 which was rather unfortunate as he didn't get any benefit from the second safety car that came out a few laps later leaving him on ageing soft tyres that left him vulnerable to passes by Charles Leclerc, Fernando Alonso, Max Verstappen and Esteban Ocon before the chequered flag.
