Esteban Ocon (P8, 4 pts): 7/10
It's great to see Esteban Ocon back in F1 - he really should never have had to sit out 2019 on the sidelines. While you couldn't say that he looked particularly rusty from his time out - no more so than all the other drivers who have been twiddling their thumbs due to the coronavirus hiatus, at least - it's understandable that he's still feeling his way with a brand new team and getting used to the R.S.20. No shame therefore in trailing Daniel Ricciardo throughout practice on Friday, or that he wasn't able to join the Aussie in progressing to the final round of qualifying. He lost two places to Daniil Kvyat and Antonio Giovinazzi at the start, but kept his head and made steady progress with some effective overtaking over the course of the next hour and a half. With other cars falling away, Ocon levelled out in eighth place and delivered some welcome early championship points to Renault, despite foregoing the chance to make a late stop for fresh tyres under the later safety cars.
Pierre Gasly (P7, 6 pts): 7/10
Despite being the junior (sorry, sister) squad to Red Bull, the team's de facto home event has never been a particularly strong one for the newly rechristened AlphaTauri. Finishing comfortably in the points this weekend is therefore a good outcome for Pierre Gasly, even if it took a higher than usual number of incidents, accidents and technical retirements to help him out. Neither he nor his team mate Daniil Kvyat had the best of times on Friday, but they worked through their problems and were looking more on form in qualifying which saw Gasly into Q2 where he picked up 12th place on the grid - just one spot behind Sebastian Vettel. Initially worried about overheating brakes, the situation eventually stabilised and allowed the Frenchman to make steady progress during the rest of the afternoon, and he was delighted by the outcome: "If someone had told us that we would have been P7 on Sunday we would have signed straight away!"
