George Russell (Retired, Lap 52): 7/10
After weeks of uncertainty about his 2021 contract with Williams, George Russell was full of confidence when he arrived at Imola with his immediate future sorted out. Although he was only 18th fastest in practice, he delivered his now-expected heroics in the first round of qualifying to make it through to Q2 and then did enough to put himself ahead of Sebastian Vettel on the grid for the second race in a row. He held on to 13th place until the first round of pit stops began, and then as cars ahead started to hit problems he inched his way closer and closer to the magical boundary marking the top ten. Max Verstappen's retirement and subsequent safety car put him back on the lead lap and finally into a points-paying position - and then he threw it all away, snapping into the barriers while weaving to heat up his tyres. Russell was understandably distraught at his 'unacceptable' error and the lost golden opportunity, although in truth it's likely that the two Alfa Romeos would have easily passed him in the closing laps to leave him 11th at the line, which is where his team mate Nicholas Latifi finished instead.
Alexander Albon (P15): 5.5/10
We've seen this sort of thing before in the past: a Red Bull driver comes under pressure to perform or else face the boot, and everything starts to unravel for him. Things were bad enough for Alexander Albon last time out in Portimão, but if anything what happened this weekend was even worse for him. He was over a second slower than his team mate Max Verstappen in practice, and although he comfortably made it through to the final round of qualifying he was still four tenths off the Dutch driver's pace at the end of Q3. Despite starting on the soft tyres he lost a place at the start (none of the drivers on the right hand side of the grid had a great time) and after a solid if unspectacular run he was up to fifth, which is where he was running when the safety car came out for Verstappen's retirement. He decided not to pit for fresh tyres which left him vulnerable at the restart to Daniil Kvyat and Sergio Perez who had, and in attempting to fight back he spun off, almost collecting Carlos Sainz in the process. It meant he was classified dead last and out of the points, which helped Mercedes clinch the 2020 constructors championship. In terms of job security, Imola was a disaster for Albon.
