Lando Norris (P4, 12 pts): 9/10
Along with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, Lando Norris was basking in the adulation of the British frans packed into the Silverstone grandstands this week. While he wasn't quite able to reward them with another podium he nonetheless maintained a strong run of performances this season. Second quickest in opening practice on Friday, he achieved a decent P6 in qualifying that put him in good position to benefit when Sergio Perez spun out in the sprint race. On Sunday, Max Verstappen's exit promoted him to forth place at the start and he made a rapid pass on Valtteri Bottas for a podium spot at the restart. If there was any justice in the world then he would have held on to it for the rest of the afternoon, but a slow pit stop cost him valuable seconds which narrowly enabled Bottas to get ahead of him again on lap 23. There was nothing left in the McLaren to do anything about it for the rest of the race, which turned into a bit of a lonely run for Norris - although he had 140,000 fans cheering him on at every corner that doubtless kept his spirits up. "A bit of a frustrating race, but also a lot of positives and in the end I'm happy," he said. With Daniel Ricciardo finishing right behind him, the pair did well to blunt Ferrari's challenge in the battle for third place in the constructors standings.
Valtteri Bottas (Sprint P3, P3, 16 pts): 8.5/10
With Lewis Hamilton extending his Mercedes contract through to 2023, there's a hint that Valtteri Bottas already knows what fate has in store for him. There was a certain sense of resignation to the weekend for the Finn, who was second best to his team mate through all the practice, qualifying and sprint sessions at Silverstone. That's not to say that Bottas didn't put in his trademark dependable performance throughout, and he really doesn't deserve to be taken for granted. He was safely onto the second row of the grid for the sprint race and did nothing to imperil that position ahead of the start of the Grand Prix. He was on the dirtier side of the grid for the start and unable to hold off Charles Leclerc when the lights went out, and it was this single moment that meant it was the Ferrari that took the lead at the restart following the Lewis Hamilton/Max Verstappen accident. Surprisingly the team didn't ask Bottas to hold up the McLarens of Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo to help Hamilton catch up after serving his ten second penalty, but then came the explicit team order telling him to invert positions with his team mate to free Hamilton up to go for the race win. Since it paid off with victory, it was unquestionably the right call by the team - but surely there's only so many times that Bottas can be treated like a doorstop before coming to resent it.
