Esteban Ocon (P14): 6.5/10
It's been a real up-and-down season for Esteban Ocon, which may be a reflection of how sensitive the Alpine A521 is to certain types of tracks and weather conditions. This was one of the less successful outings, and Sochi's changeable weather certainly proved a challenge. He finished Friday in a strong fifth place at the end of FP2, and joined his team mate Fernando Alonso in the final round of qualifying, but was left regretting not moving to slick tyres sooner once the track dried up. Starting from ninth on the grid, he maintained position through to his pit stop on lap 15 which dropped him behind George Russell, and he found it impossible to beat the Williams on straight line speed. Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel both got passed him, and then the late rain forced him to pit for inters which dropped him further back down the order before the chequered flag. "It's one of those days we have to forget, and we'll move on, analyse what happened, and come back stronger."
Pierre Gasly (P13): 6.5/10
With several big names usually to be found at the front out of contention, this weekend seemed to offer the chance of a really strong result for Pierre Gasly - possibly a podium or even a tilt at a second Grand Prix race victory. Third quickest at the conclusion of Friday practice, heading into qualifying he would have been eyeing up a spot on at least the front two rows. Instead he ended up missing the cut at the end of Q2 to his intense frustration. He was pounding the Halo cockpit protection device with his fist on the way back to pit lane, blaming the team for not reacting to his feedback about the tyres in time. In the race he immediately lost three places on the opening lap, but staying out until lap 33 saw him briefly peak inside the top six. He came back out behind Valtteri Bottas, and while the Finn was far from his best in Sochi it was enough to keep Ocon bottled up until the rain started. An effort to stay out on slicks failed to pay off: "Again today we made the wrong decision with the slicks, " he commented. "We just didn't utilise all the opportunities given to us this weekend, which is a real shame."
