Nicholas Latifi (P16): 5/10
Even before the start of first practice, the gossip and whispers had started in the paddock: how long will Nicholas Latifi keep his race seat at Williams? There was a lot read into the team's decision to run Nyck de Vries in FP1 as a benchmark to Latifi. If that was indeed the idea then the Canadian came out the worse for the comparison, ending the hour a second slower than the Dutch driver who was getting his first taste of a Formula 1 weekend. When Alex Albon returned, Latifi was over nine tenths off his regular team mate's pace. He spent the first half of Sunday's race in the tyre tracks of Albon until the Thai driver sustained damage to the floor of his car, after which Latifi was able to pass and pull away. He then used a fresh set of tyres to get the better of Kevin Magnussen whose Haas was battered and bruised from a first lap clash with Lewis Hamilton. As poor as it was, P16 was arguably a better result than his performance on the day deserved.
Lance Stroll (P15): 6/10
Aston Martin bounced into the weekend with high hopes for their dramatic new look AMR22: two years ago they were dubbed the Pink Mercedes, now they're making waves all over again as the Green Red Bull. But however similar the car might look to that of the championship leaders, there's no comparison in terms of on-track performance and what was most surprising was how little things had changed for Lance Stroll and his team mate Sebastian Vettel. The Canadian sank down the order over successive sessions - P12, P13, P16 - and it was not much of a surprise when he missed the cut at the end of the first found of qualifying as well. He had a decent start and briefly made it into top ten during the first round of pit stops, but then clashed with Pierre Gasly at turn 1 forcing him to make an early second stop while the mechanics conducted a lengthy check of the car for damage. Thereafter he became mired in 15th place for much of the afternoon, where he remained resolutely stuck behind the AlphaTauri.
