Valtteri Bottas (P14): 6/10
Valtteri Bottas has said before that he might as well not show up on Friday for all the good it's done him of late because of various technical issues and incidents. The team took him at his word this week and switched him out in favour of reserve driver Robert Kubica for FP1, meaning he was playing catch-up in FP2 where he was a creditable 12th place. He followed that by making Q2 in Saturday's qualifying session, and grid penalties for Carlos Sainz and Kevin Magnussen meant he took the start from 11th place meaning a possible point or two was very much on the cards. Starting on the hard tyres, he lost out badly at the start despite a new clutch that was meant to deliver better starts. He dropped five places, got stuck behind Pierre Gasly and was passed by Nicholas Latifi before pitting under the safety car, after which the Alfa Romeo performed better on the mediums. Unfortunately they didn't have the longevity to make it to the finish and he was forced to pit a second time on lap 36 dropping him behind Mick Schumacher, who he finally managed to pass again with three laps to go to cross the line in a frankly somewhat disappointing 14th.
Alexander Albon (P13): 6.5/10
A surprise eighth place in opening practice ultimately promised more than Alex Albon could deliver in the Williams FW44 this weekend despite all its recent upgrades, and it was down to P16 in the later session. The yoyo-ing continued when he was back in the top ten in final practice, but it was always going to be a challenge to make it through to the second round of qualifying in the afternoon. When the chequered flag came out it looked like he had just missed out, but a late track limits penalty for Mick Schumacher handed him a lifeline. He ended up starting the race from P13 and held on to it all the way to the safety car for Charles Leclerc's accident, and took the restart in P11 just a whisker away from the points. He found himself stuck in an Aston Martin sandwich, and on lap 39 Sebastian Vettel finally got past followed by Pierre Gasly on lap 47. No shame there- both are top drivers in faster cars than the Williams - but even so, Albon would have been hoping for slightly better today.
