Oscar Piastri (P10, Fastest lap, 2 pts): 8/10
McLaren was clearly not having a good weekend in Vegas. The MCL60 had been expected to suit the circuit but from early on this was clearly not the case. Cooling problems on Lando Norris' car despite the chilly night time conditions was proof enough that they had got something wrong with the set-up coming in. Of the two drivers, Oscar Piastri looked to be having the better time of it and was second quickest in final practice, but then the situation was inverted in qualifying and he was second slowest, missing the first cut by a mile after the team decided not to use a second set of tyres. Even so he was forced to run the whole of the race on used sets starting with two stints on the hard compound. It was actually working rather well, and after the second safety car he took the restart in fourth and promptly picked off Gasly. Unfortunately the tyre rules meant he had to pit again for a different compound, and that dropped him out of the points. The scrubbed mediums did allow him to pass Gasly a second time and he was able to recover a point by the chequered flag.
Fernando Alonso (P9, 2 pts): 7/10
A podium last time out in Brazil suggested that Aston Martin were finally rediscovering their early season success, but Fernando Alonso had a tougher time of it in Vegas. He started off sprightly enough with third place in FP2, and was seventh in final practice, and so it was no surprise to see him in the final round of qualifying - although P10 behind the likes of Albon, Sargeant, Bottas and Magnussen (by just a few hundredths of a second) seemed like a bit of a lost opportunity. It left him in danger of getting caught up in other people's problems at the start of the race, but it was his own spin (on a patch of oil?) that left him facing the wrong way at turn 1 where he was lucky not to be hit by Valtteri Bottas. He was also fortunate with the timing of the VSC and full safety car which put him back into contention, and some lively battles with the likes of Pierre Gasly, Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton ensued. The old warrior's fighting spirit kicked in and he was back into the points by the chequered flag.
