Yuki Tsunoda (P10, 1 pt): 7.5/10
After two pointless outings at the start of 2023, Yuki Tsunoda and AlphaTauri finally clinched a top ten finish in Melbourne. All it took was eight cars to retire or crash out and another to get hit with a hefty penalty. No matter - sometimes you have to take your successes wherever you can find them. And Tsunoda - once a magnet for on-track accidents - did well to keep out of Sunday's mayhem and bring at the AT04 home safe and sound. After a poor time in first practice, Tsunoda perked up in the rain in FP2 and then managed to secure himself passage into the second round of qualifying on Saturday to start the race from a very respectable P12. He picked up two spots at the start and benefitted from the timing of the first red flag, but the car simply didn't have the pace needed to maintain his place in the DRS trains that formed during the second half of the race. He haemorrhaged positions until he found himself bumping along in 14th place. The mayhem at the penultimate restart saw him briefly up to fifth place before the race was stopped again and the order reset. He did benefit from several of his rivals being wiped out, enough to see him cross the line in 11th place. After that, Carlos Sainz' penalty for spinning Fernando Alonso promoted Tsunoda into the points for the first time this year.
Zhou Guanyu (P9, 2 pts): 7/10
Given just how badly his Alfa Romeo team mate fared in Melbourne this week, it's something of a miracle to see Zhou Guanyu emerge with a brace of points for the squad on Sunday. It had taken him a while to get used to Albert Park on Friday, and a glancing blow with the barrier in final practice contributed to missing out on the first cut in qualifying leaving him lining up in 17th (still better than Valtteri Bottas on pit lane, though). He was helped by the timing of the first red flag and emerged from the restart in 12th before being picked off by Esteban Ocon and the recovering Sergio Perez shortly after. He ended up stuck behind Kevin Magnussen for the second half of the race, with Yuki Tsunoda snapping at his heels. When the Haas hit the wall to trigger another restart with two laps to go he managed to escape what he himself referred to as "the shambles" of the aborted restart. The consequent retirement of Ocon and others ahead of him meant he found himself crossing the line in tenth place behind the safety car, with another place subsequently handed to him by Carlos Sainz' penalty.
