Lance Stroll (P4, 12 pts): 9/10
While the controversy over the legality of the RP20 continues to rage off-track, Racing Point are certainly making hay for as long as the sun continues to shine. With the exception of Mercedes they were the class of the field for much of the Hungarian Grand Prix, with Lance Stroll himself in the top five throughout practice and pipping his (admittedly slightly unwell) team mate Sergio Perez in qualifying in which the pair locked out the second row of the grid, by far the team's best Saturday showing since it rose from the ashes of Force India. Stroll didn't disappoint in the race itself, either, successfully holding on to Lewis Hamilton's coat-tails into the first corner. Only an inspired effort from Max Verstappen got the better of Stroll in the opening laps, and then later he inevitably succumbed to the superior pace and better pit stop strategy of Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas. But losing out to such big beats and still coming away with fourth place is nonetheless a terrific achievement for the young Canadian.
Valtteri Bottas (P3, 15 pts): 8.5/10
Starting the season with high hopes of finally contending for the title after winning the first round of the season, Valtteri Bottas is once again following a familiar pattern of fading optimism with the loss of his lead in the championship points to Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton. Bottas briefly looked in with a chance of matching Hamilton in Hungary when he was fastest in final practice, but the Finn was unable to keep up when Hamilton picked up the pace in tricky conditions in qualifying. And then came the race itself, and that "jump start that wasn't" after he was distracted by an unexpected flashing alert on his electronic dashboard. Although he avoided a formal penalty, the miscue nonetheless cost him an immediate four places on the first lap alone. He responded by being among the first to make an early pit stop to trade inters for slicks. It helped settle his nerves for a slow and steady comeback drive with passes on Charles Leclerc, Romain Grosjean, Kevin Magnussen and finally Lance Stroll returning him to third place. With that achieved he made another stop on lap 50 with the aim of using fresh rubber to hunt down Max Verstappen for second place, but he was ultimately one lap short of being able to spring the trap.
