Kevin Magnussen (Damage, Lap 37): 7/10
Kevin Magnussen was one of two drivers going into the French Grand Prix knowing that qualifying didn't matter one jot, as a number of grid penalties for taking additional engine components meant he would be starting from the back row of the grid come what may. That was a shame seeing how he finished FP2 in eighth place. It would have been perfectly understandable if he had put his feet up in the garage after a token appearance in Q1, but instead he seemed out to make a point - and did so in style, getting all the way through to the final round before opting to rest on his laurels. A brilliant start to the race saw him take advantage of confusion ahead to leap into 13th place, but then the team called him in at the end of lap 7 for an oddly early first stop. Whatever plan they had in mind was undone by the safety car on lap 18 during which everyone else got a 'free' stop - and even Magnussen and Mick Schumacher came in for a second time, putting them back in sync with the others but now stuck right at the back. He was still only P14 when he clashed with Nicholas Latifi on lap 38 which left both cars too damaged to continue, retiring even before the race stewards could assess the question of blame.
Nicholas Latifi (Damage, Lap 40): 5/10
Things really aren't getting much better for Nicholas Latifi, who was slowest in both of Friday's practice sessions. In FP1 he was over a second and a half off the pace of his Williams team mate Alex Albon who was eighth fastest, so you can't blame the car for his performance. He was at least within a second of his team mate in FP2, and he was P12 in final practice (albeit still slower than Albon) before going into qualifying where he was once again at the foot of the timesheets. Grid penalties for Carlos Sainz and Kevin Magnussen moved him up to 18th on the grid for the race, and he picked up another position when Yuki Tsunoda went for a spin. A pass on Valtteri Bottas followed, but he was still only P15 when the safety car came out for Charles Leclerc's accident. He was overtaken by Kevin Magnussen after the restart and settled into P16 for the remainder of his run, which came to an abrupt end when he clashed with Magnussen a second time on lap 38. This time the damage to both cars was too much to overcome and both soon retired. Even so, Latifi took solace in racing wheel-to-wheel with rivals that had previously been out of reach, so maybe those new upgrades on the FW44 really are paying off after all.
