Nicholas Latifi (P16): 6.5/10
Not too far off the pace of his team mate in first practice, Nicholas Latifi lost track time in the afternoon with an engine problem which saw him complete only five laps. He bounced back on Saturday morning and was faster than George Russell (who suffered a water leak in final practice), and with Lance Stroll and Antonio Giovinazzi crashing out early in the first round of qualifying Latifi had high hopes of making it through to Q2. Unfortunately that didn't quite happen and he started the race immediately behind Russell, and was quickly dispatched by Stroll and Giovinazzi recovering from the back row. After pitting on lap 9 he spent twenty laps stuck in 17th place behind Russell, but by the time the race was stopped for Max Verstappen's accident he was up to 13th place. Unfortunately a miscommunication with his race engineer saw him inadvertently breach the red flag rules, and a post-race 30 second penalty dropped him to 16th in the classified results. We put the blame on that one squarely on the Williams pit wall rather than Latifi, though.
Lewis Hamilton (P15): 6.5/10
Which Lewis Hamilton would you like us to rate this weekend? There were at least four different versions of the world champion on display at different times and a single rating can't do the situation justice. On the one hand there's no question that Friday was a terrible day for Hamilton and for the Mercedes as a whole - it's been a long time since they've seemed this lost with neither can finishing in the top ten in FP2. But then Hamilton found something overnight with a low downforce set-up, and successfully caught a slipstream to give him a tow in both FP3 and qualifying and suddenly there he was, back on the front row of the grid for the race. It gave him the perfect opportunity to pass Charles Leclerc on the second lap. Unfortunately a delay on pit lane during his first stop dropped him behind the two Red Bulls, but he was still on course to retake the lead of the drivers championship when he ran wide at the restart following Max Verstappen's accident and threw it all away. Driver error or a problem with the W12's "magic button"? Whichever, draw a straight line between all the ratings we could have given him at the various stages this week, and this is where it averages out. We think.
