Valtteri Bottas (P12): 5/10
We had trouble rating Lewis Hamilton's weekend because it was all over the place, up and down and left and right like a demented roller coaster. When it comes to his Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas, however, there is no such problem because the direction of travel was always heading one way. Tenth in FP1, 16th in FP2, 13th in FP3 and finally just scraping into the final round of qualifying to start the race from tenth place, the data must have made for grim reading back in the team trailer. While Hamilton managed to find something extra with a low downforce setting, Bottas and his engineers were completely lacking any ideas about what was wrong or how to proceed, and Sunday proved a particularly protracted torture: unable to make any gains in the first half of the race, he lost multiple positions at the restart following the safety car and couldn't even fend off Antonio Giovinazzi's Alfa Romeo. At least George Russell knew not to press his luck after their recent tangle, but everyone watching the pair was thinking the same thing about what's looking increasingly likely to happen in 2022. After numerous retirements ahead, 12th place was undoubtedly a dismal result for the Finn but incredibly one that still flattered his true performance in Baku.
Antonio Giovinazzi (P11): 7/10
Last time out in Monaco, Antonio Giovinazzi scored a point for Alfa Romeo while his team mate Kimi Raikkonen just missed out. This time round in Baku the two cars once again finished tenth and 11th but it was Giovinazzi who walked away empty handed. It shows that the pair are well matched and getting much the same performance out of the C41. Giovinazzi had a particularly good run in FP2 where he was an impressive seventh fastest, and a spot in Q2 or better looked on the cards in qualifying - right up to the minute he crashed out at turn 15 on his first flying lap attempt. It meant a back row grid spot for the Italian, and he had a great start picking up five places before handing them back to lost property by making a very early pit stop. He soon re-passed the two Haas backmarkers and by the time everyone else had made their stops he was up to 13th place running behind Fernando Alonso and Daniel Ricciardo. Carlos Sainz passed him on lap 23 and a second pit stop under the safety car on lap 34 allowed Raikkonen to jump him, but on the positive side he was able to pick off a listless Valtteri Bottas while Max Verstappen's accident and Lewis Hamilton's run-off bumped him up to 11th at the line.
