Yuki Tsunoda (P14): 5.5/10
An untidy weekend for Yuki Tsunoda, who was only marginally quicker than his under-pressure AlphaTauri team mate Nyck de Vries on Friday and then missed the first cut at the end of qualifying on Saturday. To rub salt in that wound he was handed a three place penalty for impeding another driver during the session which left him lining up on the back row of the grid. The team tried to come up with a Hail Mary strategic move by pitting him at the end of the first lap to exchange his initial set of mediums for the hard compound. He came him out in clear air allowing him to make up some time that paid off when others pitted under the safety car on lap 12, leaving him in 13th, but he handed back a lot of those places when he eventually made his second stop on lap 34. He spent most of the rest of the afternoon wedged behind the Alpine of Pierre Gasly, never at any point looking like he was close to finishing in the points. With Alex Albon's brilliant drive ahead, the double non-points finish means AlphaTauri have fallen behind Williams in the constructors standings and look increasingly adrift.
Lando Norris (P13): 7.5/10
It's not just that the penalty dropped him out of a points finish today, it was the label attached to it that will have really hurt Lando Norris: "unsportsmanlike". If ever there was a driver for whom the description was less appropriate, it's Lando. We can't argue that the penalty itself wasn't appropriate - stewards have taken a dim view before of drivers holding up their rivals on their way into pit lane in order to secure extra time for their pit crews to get to work - but the stewards' choice of language seemed especially provocative. And Lando was only doing what the team asked of him to achieve a successful 'double stacking' move under the safety car. It's a shame because both McLarens had been looking feisty this weekend with both of them making it into the final round of qualifying and Norris starting the race from P7 - although he felt more had been possible if it hadn't been for the red flag triggered by his team mate. In the race, he lost a spot to Oscar Piastri at the start, and also dropped places as a result of both of his pit stops (including an unsafe release incident with Alex Albon) but dispatched Valtteri Bottas on lap 63 to set up a fierce battle with Esteban Ocon that went right to the line - although it was actually moot given the five second penalty applied after the finish. "This sanction makes no sense," he grumbled.
