Fernando Alonso (P8, 4 pts): 7.5/10
After Aston Martin's stunning start to the season followed by their summer slump, the team have been talking up their chances for a big finish to the year. We're not seeing any sign of that so far, to be honest. But as ever Fernando Alonso continues to put in a top effort at every opportunity, continuing his run of making it through to the final round of qualifying for every race this season. beginning the race on softs from tenth on the grid he got what he himself described as a "mega start" to jump up to sixth before the safety car was scrambled. A jumbled first pit stop sequence saw him drop to seventh and he was then quickly passed by Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton. He brought forward his second stop to lap 25 and after that had to be patient and wait as those ahead of him made their own final stops. The net result was a gain of two places on his starting position, and some valuable points for the team.
George Russell (P7, 6 pts): 7/10
George Russell had been looking strong on Friday and was quicker than his Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton in both practice sessions, but the pendulum swung against him on Saturday as the seven-time world champion took charge and qualified one place ahead. Having the pair share the fourth row for the start proved somewhat combustible: after Hamilton clashed with Sergio Perez and sustained damage, Russell felt he should be allowed to get past and piled on the pressure to the point where Hamilton ventured off onto the grass, before leaving the field of battle for a pit stop. Russell opted to try a one-stop strategy, which everyone knew was highly unlikely to pay off, and by the closing laps he was being picked off left, right and centre - including by Hamilton. He was hoping that his team mate would hang around to give him a 'DRS tow' to help him hold off Carlos Sainz, but the help came too late leaving Russell in seventh place and less than happy.
