Oscar Piastri (P8, 4 pts):: 7/10
A solid eighth in first practice in Japan for McLaren's Oscar Piastri was followed by a memorable timesheet-topping performance in FP2, although admittedly he was only one of three drivers to set a time on slicks in a generally wet session. Eighth again in final practice, he saved his best for qualifying which saw him make it through to the final round to place himself into sixth place on Sunday's grid. He started the race on mediums and pitted after 12 laps, completing the rest of the distance on two sets of hard tyres. While there was little drama during the middle stint, he found himself firmly stuck behind the wily old Fernando Alonso and unable to make any progress. Toward the end of the race he was being caught by George Russell and at one point cut the apex to maintain his position and avoid making contact. Then he made a mistake at the end of the penultimate lap, ran wide out of the exit and served up a gift-wrapped opportunity on a plate to Russell to pass him. A painful finish for the Aussie who didn't quite seem fully engaged this weekend.
George Russell (P7, 6 pts): 8/10
Mercedes team mates George Russell and Lewis Hamilton were closely matched in both dry practice sessions in Japan and talking positively about how much the W15 was performing this weekend. For the first time this season, Hamilton came out on top of Russell in qualifying with the younger Briton admitting to making a mistake on his final Q3 lap that might otherwise have seen him in the top five. Having started on mediums, Russell used the red flag stoppage to switch to the hard compound for the next two stints, but all the strategising still left him down in eighth place by the time he reverted to the medium tyres for the conclusion of the race. The faster compound did allow him to catch Oscar Piastri but his first attempt to pass the McLaren didn't come off. He had to wait until the the end of the penultimate lap before a mistake by Piastri gave him the the opportunity to apply DRS down the start/finish straight and steal seventh place. It was a much better last lap for him than Australia, that's for sure.
