Alex Albon (P8, 4 pts): 6.5/10
There's a definite sense that Alex Albon's inability to come close to his team mate's single lap speed is becoming an increasing issue at Red Bull. He was almost a second slower than Max Verstappen in FP1, and only slightly closer in FP2. Even so, he pulled it together in qualifying and made it through to the final round, putting himself into sixth place on the grid. It was a significant improvement on his previous three outings, but it still left Verstappen isolated on the second row in his ongoing battle with the Mercedes behemoth. The team's race tactics hardly helped, calling Albon in on lap 16 for a bizarre change to the hard compound that left him moribund in the midfield with little chance of making up ground. Did the team imagine Albon could make it to the finish without another stop? If so then their tactic failed and he stopped again for a final set of mediums on lap 38. Whatever the tyre, the Thai driver wasn't happy: "I just didn't have any grip on any tyre compound," he said. "Each stint I was nursing and looking after the tyres but after six or seven laps I just had no grip."
Sebastian Vettel (P7, 6 pts): 7.5/10
After a series of disasters for the four-time world champion, Sebastian Vettel stands somewhat redeemed this week. There's no doubt that Ferrari are in dire straits this season, but Charles Leclerc has been helping to paper over the cracks - until Spain. With the Monegasque getting a taste of the trials and tribulations that Vettel himself has been facing, all of a sudden the German's efforts can be seen in a lot better light. Supplied with a new chassis since Silverstone, Vettel more of less matched Leclerc in FP1 although he fell off the pace again in subsequent sessions and once again missed out on making it through to the final round of qualifying, albeit by just two thousandths of a second to Lando Norris. Vettel was annoyed with indecision from the Ferrari pit wall when he was told to switch to a single stop strategy just minutes after being told there was no need to protect his second set of soft tyres, but he complied and pulled it off with the loss of just a couple of positions in the closing laps to Carlos Sainz and Lance Stroll. A battling performance that proves there's still life on the old dog yet.
