Pierre Gasly (P4, 12 pts): 9/10
An impressive weekend for Pierre Gasly, who put the AlphaTauri on the second row of the grid in qualifying after solid top ten performances throughout practice. If he'd managed to do this consistently when he was with Red Bull in 2019 then he'd probably still be with the team today in place of Sergio Perez. In Perez' absence from the front of the grid on Sunday, Gasly was the closest thing that Max Verstappen had to a teammate on hand to help him out, but it turned out that the Dutch driver really didn't need any help after all - which was fortunate as Gasly simply didn't have the pace in race trim to play a meaningful role in what unfolded. He quickly fell a long way off the top three and by the end of the race was also knocked off the lead lap by Verstappen's dominant performance. Although Charles Leclerc made a late run, Gasly was still a comfortable five seconds clear of the Ferrari by the time they reached the chequered flag meaning that AlphaTauri inches two points closer to Alpine in the battle for fifth place in the constructors standings.
Valtteri Bottas (P3, 15 pts): 8.5/10
We're growing ever closer to Mercedes' formal announcement of who will partner Lewis Hamilton at the team in 2022, but maybe Valtteri Bottas just jumped the gun and provided us with a clear answer? When he pitted for a second time on lap 67 for a final set of new soft tyres, the team told him unequivocally that this did not herald a bid to take the bonus point for fastest lap of the race. And yet he did it anyway (until Hamilton bettered it a few moments later). In fairness he backed off considerably in the final sector of the lap to show compliance with the instructions from pit wall, but it still felt like a remarkably impudent thing for a man long considered the ultimate team player to do. Then again, hearing Mercedes so nakedly blocking Bottas from even trying likewise felt like a clear message to one and all that the Finn's time at Brackley is coming to a close. Which is a shame, as Bottas was back to his strong, solid, consistent self at Zandvoort after some difficult recent campaigns that had contrasted poorly with the rising star of George Russell at Williams, heir apparent to Bottas' race seat. Even though their relative fortunes were reversed this weekend, the outcome is unlikely to change minds at Mercedes about their 2022 plans.
