Fernando Alonso (Retired, Lap 35): 8/10
Of the many things that this year's Saudi Arabian GP will be remembered for (missile strikes, huge accidents), the no-holds-barred battle between Fernando Alonso and his Alpine Esteban Ocon is definitely one of them. The fact that the team allowed this to run as long as it did is testament to their love of racing, but if this is going to be a regular feature then new principal Otmar Szafnauer is going to need to bring a sofa to the pit wall to give him a place to hide behind when watching future races. It was thrilling, if unnecessary, and both drivers were intelligent enough to avoid any actual contact before team orders were finally handed out. Prior to that it had been a solid middle of the table performance from Alpine this weekend, with Ocon edging Alonso in all three practice sessions and by two places in qualifying, both men easily making it through to the top ten pole shoot-out round. Unfortunately Alonso's car was one of the three to expire within 90 seconds of each other around lap 35, which helped trigger the Virtual Safety Car and pit lane closure that cost Lewis Hamilton dear.
Valtteri Bottas (Retired, Lap 36): 7.5/10
After his surprise run to sixth place in Bahrain, Valtteri Bottas confirmed this week that his move to Alfa Romeo from the heady heights of Mercedes is by no means the end of his competitive career. In fact the Alfa proved again in Saudi Arabia that it's not just a match to the Mercedes, but significantly better in many ways - and Bottas is loving getting the most out of it. He was third fastest in first practice, and remained in the top ten throughout the rest of the weekend to put himself into eighth place on the grid after having no trouble making into Q3 - unlike his former team mate Lewis Hamilton, who couldn't even get out of Q1. How times have changed! Until the C42 developed terminal issues on lap 36 he had been running ahead of Ocon indicating that he would have been on course for sixth place if only the car had lasted the distance. A shame to miss out, but that doesn't dent the evidence of all the hard work put in by Bottas and his team.
