Oscar Piastri (P12): 8/10
From the moment he finished Friday practice in the top four, Oscar Piastri had the upper hand over his McLaren team mate Lando Norris this weekend. Both men made it through to the final round of qualifying on Saturday, but it was Piastri who lined up in P7 right in front of Norris on the grid. The pair ended up stuck behind Alex Albon, and were running together on track for much of the afternoon and becoming increasingly frustrated with the other. At one point they banged wheels which did not go down well with the team boss. Piastri looked set for eighth when his front wing was removed by a careless swipe from Lewis Hamilton, leaving him out of the points when he had more than deserved them.
Liam Lawson (P11): 7.5/10
In the car for only the second Grand Prix of his career after his abrupt promotion as Daniel Ricciardo's stand-in at AlphaTauri, at least Liam Lawson had a more 'normal' build-up this week. Probably his biggest test was how he would fare in qualifying after getting to benefit from a full set of practice sessions, and sure enough getting through to Q2 and lining up in P12 right behind Yuki Tsunoda was a solid performance. We'd have loved to see how the team mates compared in the race but sadly Yuki's car had other plans for the afternoon. Out on his own, the Kiwi came commendably close to earning his first championship point in another calm, assured, mistake-free performance.
