Kevin Magnussen (P14): 6/10
Just a few weeks ago we were marvelling at the crazy rollercoaster ride that had seen Kevin Magnussen unexpectedly recalled to Formula 1 active duty and straight into the points in both Bahrain and Jeddah. But this weekend, Haas looked like the stuffing had been knocked out of them by the events of Saudi Arabia and were treading carefully around the lack of an available back-up car, with the drivers seemingly briefed not to dare scratching the paintwork of the VF-22. As a result this was an underwhelming outing for them (although to be fair, still much better than last season's annus horribilis). Having been unwell on Friday morning, Magnussen was a disappointing P18 in first practice. He was only two places better in FP2 and then down to 17th on Saturday morning, outperformed by his team mate Mick Schumacher. A place in the second round of qualifying never looked likely, but the Dane won't be happy that Schumacher managed to pull it off while he fell short. Starting from 16th, he opted to start on the hard tyre and completed 38 laps before taking the opportunity of a Virtual Safety Car to pit for mediums. It did him little good, and by the time he crossed the finish line he had not only slipped off the lead lap but was behind Schumacher again. The rollercoaster ride has finished for now, and it had been back down to earth with a bump for K-Mag.
Mick Schumacher (P13): 6.5/10
After missing out on the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in the wake of his huge accident in qualifying, Mick Schumacher was looking well up for a confidence-restoring fight this weekend. The team however appeared less inclined, licking its wounds from the cost (both financial and in terms of stocks of back-up bodywork and components) of the write-off of Schumacher's VF-22. He was slowest in opening practice and barely any better in the afternoon, but things perked up for the young German on Saturday morning when he was P14 and faster than team mate Kevin Magnussen. In the circumstances he pleasantly surprised everyone by successfully making the cut at the end of Q1 to start from 15th. He was nearly taken out by Carlos Sainz' spinning Ferrari on lap 2 and came close to rear-ending a dawdling Yuki Tsunoda when the cars packed up behind a safety car, but he escaped these and a few other off-roading moments to bring the car home in one piece as ordered. While points were never realistically on offer, he will have been pleased to finish ahead of Magnussen after the Dane rather stole the limelight in the first two races of the year. He had made a success of rule number one: beat your team mate.
