Lewis Hamilton (Pole, P2, Fastest Lap, 19 pts): 9/10
Lewis Hamilton's weekend seemed to follow something of an inverse trajectory to that of the British Grand Prix, where he seemed to be struggling for set-up right up to that moment when he pulled off a superb pole position lap that set him up for victory in the race despite a last lap tyre failure. Second time round, Hamilton appeared to be in charge in practice but when it came to qualifying it was Valtteri Bottas who came alive and dominated the proceedings, forcing a clearly irked Hamilton to settle for second place on the grid. When it came to the race, Hamilton admitted he was "shocked' by Mercedes' struggles with blistering on the tyres regardless of which compound they ran, and there was nothing that he could do about Max Verstappen snatching the win. Extending his middle stint (did he ever really consider going the full distance on that ravaged second set of tyres?) he made a late stop and took fresh rubber that allowed him to dispense with Bottas and Charles Leclerc in the final minutes. Second place keeps his title campaign nicely ticking over, but this was the first serious chink in the Mercedes armour that we've seen so far in 2020.
Max Verstappen (P1, 25 pts): 9.5/10
We're notoriously stingy about handing out a 'Perfect Ten' in these ratings, but we were within a hairs-breadth of doing so for Max Verstappen. Only the fact that he wasn't quite up to speed in practice (seven tenths off Lewis Hamilton in FP1, outpaced by Daniel Ricciardo in FP2) and then pipped to third place on the grid by Racing Point supersub Nico Hulkenberg meant that we couldn't quite give him the top mark for the entirety of the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix weekend. But for the race itself, there's no question that Verstappen was driver of the day and then some: he immediately dispatched Hulkenberg off the grid despite being the only driver in the top ten on the hard tyres, and then made sure he was within optimum distance of the race leaders when both Mercedes started reporting heavy tyre blistering. Verstappen charged into position, outrageously defying orders from the Red Bull pit wall to look after his own tyres, and he was proved 100 per cent correct in his call. He took the lead and after that Mercedes were firmly on the back foot. Nothing they tried could put them back on an even footing for Verstappen, who duly picked up his first win of the season and reignited his 2020 title hopes. It was maximum Max!
