Nico Hulkenberg (P15): 6.5/10
It's also the last but one appearance for Nico Hulkenberg in the Renault, and the German driver has certainly has better weekends than he did in Brazil. He was a decent sixth and ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in the wet first practice but thereafter struggled and wasn't in the top ten in FP2 or FP3, so it wasn't a surprise when he failed to make it beyond Q2 in Saturday afternoon's qualifying. Starting from 13th place, he lost three paces on the opening laps and then got overtaken by the recovering Carlos Sainz with disappointing ease. The staggered pit stops ahead of him allowed him to make his way up to 11th place before his own service on lap 17 dumped him all the way down to 17th again, and he was lapped shortly thereafter. The first safety car for Valtteri Bottas' retirement did give him the opportunity for an extra pit stop and to get back on the lead lap and he was set to finish in 13th place, but he misjudged the restart and earned himself a five-second penalty that dumped him back down to 15th in the final classification. Given that Ricciardo went on to finish in the top six, this is the sort of disappointment that can cost drivers their race seats - if Hulkenberg hadn't already lost his for 2020 anyway.
