Lance Stroll (P14): 6/10
Judging from his Friday practice performances, Lance Stroll would have been expecting to challenge for a top ten grid spot. However the pace of the Aston Martin seemed to evaporate overnight, and in final practice and then qualifying he found himself firmly stuck in the bottom five and eliminated at the end of Q1. In response the team pivoted toward a daring strategy of asking Stroll to go a full 39 laps on soft tyres before switching to the mediums for the remainder of the race. It was quite an achievement, but ultimately of limited effectiveness. After running as high as seventh place on this strategy he then fell back to 14th once he pitted. He was subsequently allowed past his team mate Sebastian Vettel to see if there was anything he could do in clear air, but there wasn't and he sportingly handed back the position in the closing laps. "It was not our best day," he said afterwards, conceding that his poor Saturday qualifying run had been the deciding factor.
Sebastian Vettel (P13): 6.5/10
While his Aston Martin team mate Lance Stroll had struggled in qualifying, Sebastian Vettel actually had a good Saturday and made it all the way through to the final top ten pole shoot-out round for his best starting position since last year's British GP with Ferrari. That was something of a surprise given that his form in practice had been at best described as 'mixed' and consistently slower than Stroll who then failed to make the first round cut in qualifying. Vettel was able to maintain position over the opening stint of the race until he was passed by the out-of-position Daniel Ricciardo on lap 18. He then dropped another place during the pit stops and later to Antonio Giovinazzi on lap 56 as his tyres waned. At that point his race and that of his team mate converged with the two Astons running line astern: Vettel bowed to requests to let Stroll pass to see if there was any extra pace there, and when it was clear there wasn't the Canadian handed the place back in time for the chequered flag. Given that the two drivers had very different approaches to the race but crossed the line just a second apart, it's fair to say that 13th and 14th was probably a true reflection of the best the AMR21 could manage today.
