Nicholas Latifi (P18): 5/10
Nicholas Latifi had performed rather well in Imola (not counting that unfortunate first lap accident in the race itself) but it was back to normal this weekend in Portimão. The Canadian was last-but-one in all the practice timesheets with only Nikita Mazepin proving slower. However, somewhat like his Williams team mate George Russell, Latifi briefly came to life in qualifying and moved up to 18th on the grid. In the race he briefly peaked in 13th place on lap 23 as a number of cars ahead of him took their pit stops, but once he made his own visit to pit lane it was back down to 17th place for the rest of the afternoon - and he even lost out on that to a surprisingly swift Schumacher with four laps to go. Russell also struggled in the race and Latifi was ahead of the Briton at one point, meaning it's fair to say that Latifi's comment that "there is definitely something we [as a team] are missing at the moment" is right on the money.
Mick Schumacher (P17): 6.5/10
Even as Nikita Mazepin's talent appears to have plateaued at a remarkably low altitude, Mick Schumacher is proving that it really is genuinely possible to learn and grow even in a car that is as much of a handful as the Haas VF-21. He was quicker than both Mazepin and Nicholas Latifi in both of Friday's sessions and rose to the dizzying heights of 15th in final practice before being consigned to the somewhat inevitable back row starting position in qualifying. He didn't make much progress over the first half of the race and even briefly lost a spot to Mazepin at the restart, before reclaiming the position and spending almost the entire remainder of the day staring at Latifi's back wing. But the reward for his careful patience came with four laps to go, when his speed picked up relative to those around him. He was able to show a little of what he could do by passing the Canadian for 17th at the line, about as much as Haas could hope for in a race largely devoid of retirements.
