©HaasKevin Magnussen (P10, 1 pt): 7.5/10
Kevin Magnussen has been looking under pressure in recent weeks amid rumours that Haas boss Guenther Steiner has set him a deadline to deliver or start looking for other employment. It looked like that pressure was having a detrimental effect on the Dane on Friday: while he was undeniably swift, he brushed the wall and was lucky to escape a major crunch. He'd been beaten by his team mate Nico Hulkenberg in two of the three practice sessions before going into qualifying and it looked touch and go whether he could make it to the final round. Not only did he pull it off, he was fourth fastest by the time a red flag resulted in an early finish to proceedings. That's his best qualifying performance since his McLaren days, not counting the sprint pole he won last year in Brazil. His stated aim was to wrangle this into a points-paying result on Sunday, which is exactly what he achieved - although P10 was surely the least he was hoping for, leaving him just a little underwhelmed all the same. Tyre degradation was one issue, plus the lack of any retirements to assist his cause.
Esteban Ocon (P9, 2 pts): 8/10
After two double DNFs for Alpine in Melbourne and Baku, there was a sense of anxiety if not yet panic in the team heading to Miami with the need for a solid result to get their 2023 campaign back on track. And they managed to pull it off, with Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly looking evenly matched and working well together throughout the weekend. Ocon looked to have the edge of the pair, but the early finish to qualifying left him second best to Gasly and down in P8. At the start of the race he was on the hard compound and lost out to Valtteri Bottas on the opening lap, but soon bounced back and retrieved the lost spot on lap 5. He'd also been passed by Max Verstappen, but there was nothing that he (or indeed anyone else) could do about that on Sunday. He ran behind Charles Leclerc until the Ferrari pitted on lap 17, and then gained positions from more people pitting ahead of him until he was in the heady heights of the top three at the midway point of the race. He was ejected from the podium by Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz passing him after their earlier stops, and he himself pitted for mediums on lap 39 which briefly dropped him out of the points altogether. Fortunately a late stop by Lance Stroll together with a pass on Kevin Magnussen on lap 47 ensured Ocon didn't go away from Miami empty-handed.
