Zhou Guanyu (P14): 5.5/10
Alfa Romeo had some good moments in Mexico, but it all came to nought in the end. In Zhou Guanyu's case, he was a modest 13th in both of Friday's sessions and then 12th in final practice, but it was still something of a surprise when both he and team mate Valtteri Bottas made it through to the final round of qualifying (in Zhou's case, thanks to a late lap time deletion for Alex Albon). Starting from the trop ten should have been a solid basis for points but he never recovered from an early first pit stop on lap 21 that saw him drop to the back. He lacked extra sets of tyres to switch to during the red flag, and inevitably struggled for the rest of the afternoon. "That was game over for us," he admitted afterward. He was last on track at the line but gained promotion ahead of Bottas thanks to the Finn's post-race penalty.
©Haas
Nico Hulkenberg (P13): 6/10
There were definite flashes of form from Nico Hulkenberg, but once again the Haas' tendency to destroy its tyres over longer runs cost him any chance of points. He had an unremarkable time in practice but was a better than expected 12th in qualifying, and then made the most of his chances at the start of the race to charge into the top ten. Starting on mediums he held eighth place right through to his pit stop on lap 23, and benefitted from a 'free' pit stop during the red flag stoppage caused by his team mate's accident, which allowed him to take the restart in ninth. He ran behind Alex Albon all the way to lap 66 but then right on cues the tyres just dropped away and he was easy prey to the likes of Alpine pair Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, William's Logan Sargeant and AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda on the final lap. Ouch.
