George Russell (P8, 4 pts): 8.5/10
In some ways this was the weakest weekend of the season for George Russell. We're so used to him getting through to the second round of qualifying if not all the way into Q3 that to see him miss that initial cut for the first time this season was something of a shock - one that was shared by Russell himself, who had clearly been expecting better. At least he maintained his perfect qualifying record over his Williams team mates. As it turned out, he was fortunate to be so far back on the grid as it kept him safe when carnage erupted at the first turn, and when the carbon fibre dust and debris settled he emerged in seventh place at the restart. Could those long awaited first championship points for Williams really actually be possible? As it turned out, yes they were. Would Russell's joy be tempered by the fact that his team mate Nicholas Latifi was ahead of him and also picking up points? Judging from the way he had already told the Williams pit wall during the race to prioritise Latifi for the greater good we suspect not: in fact, Russell emerges as a mature, far-thinking and selfless team leader on the same day that the team excelled as a whole.
Nicholas Latifi (P7, 6 pts): 9/10
Nicholas Latifi has shown flashes of promise in the past, but on the whole has looked like a journeyman companion to Williams' star performer George Russell. Few expected that when the team finally achieved the championship points breakthrough that it had so desperately sought for two seasons, it would be Latifi leading the way across the line. That said, the signs were all there in Hungary: the Canadian managed to stay close to Russell throughout practice and qualifying, generally only a tenth off the Briton's pace. The pair started the race alongside each other on the penultimate row of the grid, but it was on Latifi's side that the path to the front opened up as a result of the turn 1 chaos. He found himself up in the dizzying heights of third place shortly after the restart. Of course the Williams FW43B simply doesn't have the pace to stay in that sort of position for an entire race distance, but a well-managed pit stop meant he was back out in seventh on lap 23. He was unable to prevent Pierre Gasly getting past on lap 40, but after that he had Russell acting as his wing man as the pair cruised with relative ease to a fantastic, long awaited double points finish: "To get both cars in the points and to move up to P8 in the championship is amazing!" he celebrated afterwards.
