Lance Stroll (P4, 12 pts): 9/10
With the return of Sergio Perez this week, Lance Stroll seemed set to be relegated once again to second chair at Racing Point. He was certainly behind his team mate throughout practice, but when it came to qualifying both men excelled in getting through to the final round and ending up securing fourth and fifth place on the grid. Stroll then emerged from his team mate's shadow with a spectacular start to the race on Sunday, which saw him sweep past Perez before diving down the inside of Valtteri Bottas into the first corner. He held on to third place for five laps before the Mercedes finally got its revenge, but Stroll wasn't rattled and he continued in the top four all the way through to the first of two pit stops. A one stop strategy for Perez gave the Mexican the upper hand in the latter half of the afternoon, but a five second penalty then cost him a spot in the final classification and handed Stroll a thoroughly deserved fourth place after all. If Racing Point really are signing Sebastian Vettel for 2021, then this race just made it even more difficult to decide which of their current drivers faces the axe.
Valtteri Bottas (P3, Fastest lap, 16 pts): 8.5/10
This season might have been knocked about by the coronavirus pandemic, but it's settling into an all-too familiar pattern for Valtteri Bottas. After winning the first race in Austria, the Finn has slowly been falling away from title contention - and this week's race was a clear example of why that's the case. There's no doubting his speed and he was quickest of anyone in FP1, but Lewis Hamilton once again took the upper hand in the remaining sessions and then seemed to have little trouble pipping Bottas io pole in qualifying. When it came to the race, Bottas was just a little too hesitant in the run down to turn 1, losing out not only to Max Verstappen but also to a first lap dive down the inside from Lance Stroll that took Bottas five laps to set right, costing him valuable time in trying to catch up to Red Bull. A change to soft tyres on lap 48 was meant to allow him to hunt down the Red Bull but the pace simply wasn't there. Bottas had to be content with snatching the bonus point for fastest lap instead. Not what he wanted, and he slipped out of second place in the drivers standings as a result.
