Nico Hulkenberg (P8, 4 pts): 9/10
We're strongly inclined to nominate Nico Hulkenberg as our driver of the weekend regardless of his numerical rating, simply because it's impossible to overstate his achievement of stepping into the Racing Point at the last minute to replace an unwell Lance Stroll in the Eifel GP. Of course it's not the first time he's had a late call-up for the team, having previously sat in for Sergio Perez at Silverstone, but that was with rather more time to prepare: on this occasion he was still driving up from Cologne even as final practice got underway. While he knows the Nurburgring well, the RP20 has changed significantly since he was last behind the wheel so it's no surprise he was slowest in qualifying. In fact let's be honest, no one was really expecting him to be able to do much from the back of the grid on Sunday either - so to stay out of trouble, get in the groove with a long initial stint on the soft tyres, then gradually move his way up the order and into the points was one of the most inspiring drives you'll see all year. Or in Hulkenberg's own words: "What a race and a story that was!"
Charles Leclerc (P7, 6 pts): 8.5/10
It was rather a surprise to see Ferrari featuring so strongly in the sole practice session at the Nurburgring, with Charles Leclerc third fastest on Saturday morning (and his team mate Sebastian Vettel not far behind). Was a Ferrari renaissance on the cards this week? Qualifying kept the hope alive with Leclerc making it through to Q3 and picking up fourth place on the grid, splitting the two Red Bulls in the process. He maintained the position over the opening laps but then came the first warning sign when he started to drop away from the leaders into the clutches of Daniel Ricciardo who finally picked him off on lap 8. After that he was brought in for an early pit stop and a switch to medium tyres which plunged him almost to the back of the field, but he was soon moving forward again as those ahead began to make their own stops, and he was briefly back into fourth again on lap 30. By this time his latest set of tyres were giving up the ghost, and a second stop left him battling over sixth place with Pierre Gasly. It was the AlphaTauri that came out on top in that duel signalling that Ferrari's core troubles are still far from over, but for his part Leclerc continues to significantly over-deliver.
