Esteban Ocon (P8, 4 pts): 8/10
Special credit has to go to Alpine's Esteban Ocon for making so much from what appeared to be so little. Lacking any running in FP1, he then completed only 17 laps in the extended second practice because of a water pressure problem on the A523, and then he had limited running in final practice because of the weather. "We weren't ready when we started qualifying," he admitted. But given lemons, Ocon made lemonade and sailed into the final top ten pole shoot-out round to secure sixth place on the grid by the time a red flag and more rain stopped anyone from improving their times. "We can be super proud!", he beamed afterwards. He quickly dispatched Nico Hulkenberg at the start of the race and pitted on lap 12 to change his mediums for a set of hards. That enabled the likes of Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez - all recovering from a poor time in qualifying and running long one-stopper strategies - to get ahead of him. He ended up running in ninth behind the Red Bull until his second stop which put him back out right behind George Russell who was recovering from his earlier accident. Russell eventually retired with brake issues leaving Ocon tangling with Alex Albon for seventh, but the upgraded Williams proved just too good on this occasion and Ocon narrowly missed out in a lunge to the line despite a valiant effort.
Alex Albon (P7, 6 pts): 9/10
Arguably the star of the day on Sunday - F1 fans certainly thought so when they voted in the official F1 poll - this was certainly Alex Albon's best performance so far in 2023, in which he hasn't finished in the top ten since he sneakily achieved a point in the season opener in Bahrain. The team clearly felt it had a chance to shine in Montreal, with Albon running a full set of new upgrades for the FW45 plus a new power unit, and a sense that the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve was a track that suited the car. Friday was mostly spent bedding in the new components, and the track conditions in final practice suggested only that the Williams might be on a par with McLaren this weekend. While making the first cut in qualifying wasn't too surprising, the sight of Albon topping the times at the end of Q2 (0.367s quicker than Max Verstappen!) made for a loud and proud statement of intent from the men and women of Grove. The red flag in Q3 prevented him from setting a lap time and so he started Sunday's race from ninth, and he soon dropped out of the top ten. Normal service resumed? Williams had a cunning plan: he had started on the medium tyres, stopped on lap 11 just before the full safety car for George Russell, and then all Albon had to do from there was complete another 59 laps without the tyre performance dropping off a cliff, performance-wise. Easy peasy, right? Well for Alex Albon on Sunday, yes it was as it turned out. A brilliant drive, throughly deserving the commendations it received from all corners of the paddock after the finish.
