Daniel Ricciardo (P6, 8 pts): 8.5/10
After a strong showing in Spa where he started and finished the race in fourth place, Daniel Ricciardo was looking for more of the same in Monza. Unfortunately the Renault didn't seem to be able to carry the same sort of pace this weekend and he was a mere 15th at the end of Friday. It wasn't until FP3 that Ricciardo showed some life with the fourth fastest time, but it came with a fuel pump failure that left him slightly reticent when it came to qualifying a couple of hours later. Securing seventh on the grid, he was able to make up a couple of places at the start with passes on Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas. He then maintained fifth place over the opening stint but was not one of those to benefit from the timing of the safety car and pit stops, and had to work hard after the restart to win back some of those lost positions before finally topping out in sixth. "The timing wasn't on our side but that's something we can't change," he said. "I couldn't have done anymore in the situation."
Valtteri Bottas (P5, 10 pts): 7/10
This was billed as Valtteri Bottas' last proper chance to keep the championship battle with his Mercedes team mate alive. The good news is that he ended the weekend ahead of Lewis Hamilton - but it wasn't the win he needed, and certainly not the race he would have wanted. Once again the build-up had seen the pair vying for the top spot throughout practice and into qualifying, but when it came to the all-important final run in Q3 it was Hamilton who found something extra again to clinch pole. And then Bottas suffered a terrible start to the race itself, which not only cost him any chance of taking the fight to Hamilton in the run down to the final chicane but also saw him lose four places in quick succession to Carlos Sainz, Lando Norris, Sergio Perez and Daniel Ricciardo. The car's massive understeer led him to fear a puncture from two early collisions, but once those fears were allayed he was able to steady the ship and settle into sixth place for the opening stint despite engine overheating concerns from running in heavy traffic. He was left hoping for an opportunity to strike back, but the safety car and ensuing pit stops came at just the wrong time and proved to be of little help to the Finn who found himself stuck in fifth all the way to the finish.
