Lewis Hamilton (Sprint P2, GP DSQ, 7 pts): 9.5/10
After his disastrous time in the Qatar Grand Prix where he collided with his Mercedes team mate George Russell and retired on the first lap, Lewis Hamilton was determined to make amends this week. And he did so, with one of his most committed and battling performances of the season. How much of that was to do with the extra motivation, how much down to the latest floor upgrades, or whether it was down to the venue (Hamilton is a multiple winner at COTA and loves racing in the US) is hard to tell, but it certainly all came together. Faster than Russell throughout, finishing runner-up in the Sprint and again in the Grand Prix was the best Hamilton has looked in a while. Even though he ended up being disqualified - an undeniable setback in terms of his fight with Sergio Perez for second place in the drivers championship - the errant plank makes no difference to just how well he did this week.
Max Verstappen (Sprint P1, GP P1, 33 pts): 9.5/10
At one point we wondered whether Max Verstappen had metaphorically put his feet up on the dashboard this weekend and was enjoying a bit of a siesta having wrapped up the matter of his third world championship last time out. He was oddly scrappy and mistake-prone in Friday's qualifying session. After emphatic redemption on Saturday, he started the Grand Prix from sixth. We expected him to fly to the front in no time at all but instead he tiptoed his way around and took 28 laps to pull it off. Had Max's ruthless killer instinct taken a holiday? It soon emerged that he was actually suffering some acute braking problems behind the wheel of the Red Bull and fighting not to fly off the track. That he managed to do so - while those of us looking on were thinking he was having a really easy day of it - is a measure of the man's current greatness.
