Sebastian Vettel (P10, 1 pt): 6/10
All eyes were on Sebastian Vettel this weekend to see how he would react after the revelation that Ferrari had never even offered the four-time world champion a contract before dumping him in favour of Carlos Sainz for 2021. Would it lead to an irreparable schism between driver and team? Such concerns were soon overshadowed by seeming confirmation of the form showed in pre-season testing suggesting the new SF1000 really was seriously underperforming compared to its rivals - so much so that Vettel actually failed to make it through to the final pole shoot-out round of qualifying. Although when it came to the race itself he quickly dispatched Daniel Ricciardo at the start, the Ferrari was still uncharacteristically struggling to make significant progress. He was only eighth and growing increasingly frustrated when he tried an ill-judged lunge on Sainz on lap 31 that spun him out and left him trailing near the back of the field for the rest of the afternoon, despite two further safety cars compressing the field and a new set of soft tyres that should have given him a chance to make up a position or two.
Antonio Giovinazzi (P9, 2 pts): 7/10
It wasn't the best weekend for Alfa Romeo, but of the two drivers it was Antonio Giovinazzi who made the best of the situation. Consistently faster than Kimi Raikkonen throughout practice, he duly qualified ahead of the Finn on Saturday - but it still meant starting the race from a disappointing 18th place. Fortunately things looked a lot brighter for the Italian at the start of the race which saw him jump up four places on the first lap alone by passing George Russell, Daniil Kvyat, Esteban Ocon and Romain Grosjean. Kvyat fought back and went in front again on lap 6, Ocon likewise got the better of him on lap 16, and his own team mate passed him for position a couple of laps later. But such was the attrition further up the road that Giovinazzi was still on the cusp of the points at the midway point of the race. He took advantage of the second safety car to pit and take on a new set of soft tyres, and that gave him the fillip he needed to make up multiple positions in the last ten laps and finish in the points. A good job in tough circumstances.
