Sergio Perez (Sprint P3, GP P4, 18 pts): 8.5/10
Following some costly recent stumbles including his first lap exit in Mexico, Sergio Perez had one thing in mind this weekend: outscoring Lewis Hamilton to shore up his bid to claim the runners-up spot in the 2023 drivers championship. Things didn't quite go to plan in qualifying where the sudden change in weather and yellow flags during his crucial final Q3 flying lap left him a disappointing ninth. Saturday was a more accurate representation of his form, where he started and finished in third place despite losing two positions early in the Sprint which he later recovered. He had more traffic ahead of him to deal with on Sunday and then came up to the back of Fernando Alonso who proved absolutely intractable; but it proved to be the best battle of the day, exhibiting the best virtues of both men.
Fernando Alonso (Sprint P11, GP P3, 15 pts): 9/10
Let's be clear: if we were rating just the final half of Sunday's Grand Prix then Fernando Alonso would get a straight ten out of ten from us. Possible more than ten, if we could slip it past the Editor. It was the thrilling battle with Sergio Perez that extended over 30 laps which demonstrated the best of Alonso's peerless talent behind the wheel. He thought the podium was lost when the Red Bull passed him on on the penultimate lap, and it was thrilling to see him get the Aston Martin back in front and then out-drag Perez to the line to win by 0.053s. With all that going on, Max Verstappen's race win barely got a look-in. It's a shame that the Saturday didn't go quite so well for him in either the Showdown or Sprint, and being out-qualified by his team mate Lance Stroll albeit in freakish conditions on Friday also shaves the edge off his overall rating for the weekend as a whole.
