Esteban Ocon (Retired, Lap 42): 6/10
We assume that Esteban Ocon wanted to consolidate all his penalties in 2023 into one, easy-to-serve mega-penalty at the outset. What on earth happened at Alpine to result in this comedy of errors? Out of position at the start and then failing to serve the resulting five second penalty in time, and then getting a pit lane speeding ticket when he finally did come in. Is this a new F1 record that no one ever wanted to win? Looking beyond that, Ocon's P9 on qualifying suggested that what we saw in pre-season testing - that Alpine have slipped down the order in the wake of Fernando Alonso's exit to Aston Martin - appears to have been confirmed. Ocon did what he could with the car between penalties, but the A523 is just not up to it right now, or not yet.
Lando Norris (P17): 6.5/10
McLaren clearly have the biggest reliability headaches at the moment. That was clear throughout pre-season testing, and was the case again over the race weekend with Oscar Piastri lasting just 14 laps before breaking down. Norris toughed it out long enough to be classified as a finisher but he'd parked the car in the garage before the chequered flag after five visits to have his pneumatic system continually pumped up - and his sagging spirits, we suspect. It would be deeply unfair to rate his race given that he was never really in it, although of course that's exactly what we've had to do. At least he managed a decent attempt in qualifying, just missing out on the final round and starting the race from 11th on the grid. And on a personal level, he successively kept Piastri at bay - for now at least.
