Fernando Alonso (P10, 1 pt): 7.5/10
Eighth quickest in first practice, Fernando Alonso continues to look surprisingly pacy in the Alpine at the moment. Even though he was carrying damage to the floor of the car from running wide in Q1 he was still able to get through to the final round of qualifying, although he wasn't a match for his team mate Esteban Ocon who was three places higher up. Unfortunately it was all for nothing when the team couldn't get the A522 started on the grid for the sprint - another example of the team suffering from recurring reliability issues this season. It meant he started Sunday's Grand Prix from the back of the grid on hard tyres where he found himself stuck in a procession of DRS-enabled cars. The Virtual Safety Car for Carlos Sainz' retirement gave him a late chance to break into the top six, but a wheel coming detached from its mounting after his last pit stop obliged him to return to the pits to have it corrected. The stewards said there was no blame on either the driver or team's side and he wasn't penalised, but tenth place was nonetheless a disappointment to him even if it meant earning a championship point.
Daniel Ricciardo (P9, 2 pts): 7/10
Another desperately poor qualifying saw Daniel Ricciardo miss the cut again at the end of the first round; although to be fair, his team mate Lando Norris was barely able to do any better. McLaren seem to have lost their way as the season has progressed and the MCL36 has lost ground to its midfield rivals. Fortunately both Norris and Ricciardo both fared better when it came to race trim, and the pair ran in formation to 11th and 12th respectively in the sprint which is where they started the Grand Prix. Ricciardo was ahead of Norris for the opening laps but couldn't hold on to the advantage and thereafter Ricciardo lost touched with Norris and had his own situation to manage. A double points finish would have have been almost unthinkable after their terrible time in FP1, but that's exactly what they pulled off on Sunday with a display of calm, capable driving from both men- nothing flashy, perhaps, and not the sort of thing that will win races or titles, but just the sort of quietly solid performance needed right now to steady the ship
