Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin (P6, 8 pts): 7.5/10
Like his Aston Martin team mate Lance Stroll, Fernando Alonso generally kept his head down and just got on with things in Montreal. Surprisingly he was slower than Stroll in FP2 and FP3 but came alive when it mattered by getting through to the final round of qualifying to claim sixth place on the grid for Sunday's race. He took advantage of Daniel Ricciardo's creeping start to gain a place when the lights went out, but could do nothing to stop Kevin Magnussen shooting past on full wets. Once the rain stopped it was another matter entirely and Alonso settled into fifth place behind Oscar Piastri, battling to stop Lewis Hamilton for finding his way through. The pressure meant he nearly lost control of the Aston going through turn 2 and he was lucky not to end up planted in the scenery. Hamilton eventually jumped him in the pits during the first safety car period and after that Alonso - the master of pragmatism - settled into P6 and kept a watching brief in case the drivers ahead hit problems, which ultimately didn't happen.
Oscar Piastri, McLaren (P5, 10 pts): 8/10
We've been very impressed with Oscar Piastri's performances over the last year, but this was the first time in a long while that he's looked to have been pushing the bounds of his current capability. Lando Norris topping first practice showed that there was considerable promise in the McLaren despite what the times at the end of FP2 might have suggested to the contrary. There was little doubt that both of the papaya drivers would make it through to the final round of qualifying and they duly locked out the second row of the grid, Piastri miffed to be just behind Norris and feeling that he had been a whisker away from challenging for pole. In the race he had a solid run in fourth even though it didn't have the pace to keep in the mix with Max Verstappen, Lando Norris and George Russell. He did get ahead of Russell during the pit stops under the second safety car, but the medium slicks didn't suit him as well. He eventually handed back the place to Russell having lost out to Lewis Hamilton (on hard tyres) with six laps to go. Dropping a place in the race while his team mate picked up one and finished on the podium was not what Piastri would have wanted to see on his scorecard, but it was a solid error-free run all the same.
