Yuki Tsunoda (Power Unit, Lap 47): 5/10
He might have claimed points in Brazil, but the cupboard was bare for Yuki Tsunoda this week in Vegas. The AlphaTauri looked to be struggling on the long straights, and this was borne out by a painful qualifying in which Tsunoda was thwarted by traffic and was slowest of anyone in Q1. Starting from the back of the grid, opting for soft tyres meant Tsunoda had a brilliant launch and navigated the collisions and skirmishes around him to take up 12th place by the time the Virtual Safety Car came out. He was up to tenth by the time the safety car was scrambled for Lando Norris' accident. But that was as good as it got, and having to pit on lap 10 plunged him back to the back. He spent most of the rest of the race there, trailing behind Daniel Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas before retiring just four laps from the finish line with a gearbox that had really just had enough for the day.
Valtteri Bottas (P17): 6/10
Valtteri Bottas was looking strong in practice with top ten finishes in both FP2 and FP3 translating into a spot in the final top ten pole shoot-out round in qualifying. Unfortunately that's where his luck ran out. He found himself confronted by a spinning Fernando Alonso at the first corner of the race, and at the same time got hit from behind by Sergio Perez which damaged the diffuser on the Alfa Romeo. A premature pit stop allowed him to switch from his initial set of mediums to the hard compound, but the car was still very hard to drive for the rest of the night. A second pit stop on lap 21 left him firmly stuck at the back along with Yuki Tsunoda. Unlike the AlphaTauri, Bottas managed to last the distance but the only reward he got for his stubborn determination was the wooden spoon.
