Lando Norris, McLaren (Retired, lap 65) 7/10
With such fine margins at the top of the Drivers’ Standings, every facet of a race weekend is super important. This bit Norris in the back in two ways. Firstly, yet another poor start by the Briton allowed the Red Bull of Verstappen to get through on the opening lap, which further allowed Piastri to open up a decent gap which Norris had to work extra hard to close for the rest of his race. An overtake looked unlikely even as he closed to within DRS range on lap 60, but ultimately it didn’t matter as reliability reared its ugly head with the Mercedes power unit in his MCL39 going caput a few laps later.
Pierre Gasly, Alpine (P17) 5/10
Gasly looked resigned to a finish in the bottom half of the results for much of the Grand Prix until crashes from others threw in a lifeline. After the second Safety Car the Frenchman stayed out on used hard tyres to move up to eighth. Unfortunately his tyres simply had nothing left in them, which saw Gasly plummet down the order and endure another race with no points.
