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The British summer can always be relied upon to deliver just the sort of inclement conditions that throws a spanner in the works. And that's what happened this weekend, with a wet qualifying on Saturday leading directly to a mixed up grid on Sunday and an explosive start to a thrilling race that tested all 20 drivers to the fullest, all the way to the chequered flag!
Alexander Albon (Accident, Lap 1): 5.5/10
Alex Albon was kitted out with all the latest upgrades available to the Williams FW44 this weekend and maybe that was the problem - too many changes, too little time to get them bedded in (due to losing FP1 to wet conditions). He certainly seemed to struggle with them, missing the cut at the end of Q1 while his team mate Nicholas Latifi powered into the final round. So maybe it's unfair to criticise Albon too harshly for what proved to be an inferior weekend at Silverstone: certainly his early exit in the race itself, after being rear-ended by Sebastian Vettel and spun across the track where he was hit by even more cars unable to react in time wasn't his fault. We're just pleased he was okay in the end; at times like this, ratings don't matter.
Zhou Guanyu (Accident, Lap 1): 8/10
While his Alfa Romeo team mate Valtteri Bottas mastered the wet conditions and topped FP1, Zhou Guanyu didn't manage to outpace the Finn throughout practice. But he did when it counted, when he managed to make it into the final round of qualifying while Bottas missed the cut at the end of Q2. It put him ninth on the grid for the start of the race and that proved a crucial problem when the lights went out and he found himself on the outside of a three-way battle with Pierre Gasly and George Russell. The slightest tap from Gasly sent Russell spinning into him, flipping the C42 upside down for the scariest ride it's possible to think of for an F1 driver, culminating in a final midair somersault and coming to rest on its side behind the tyre barrier. He was just one of many people yesterday rightly praising the Halo for saving his life. In such situations the rating hardly matters, so we'll base it on his strong performance in qualifying alone.
