Nicholas Latifi (P18): 6/10
Nicholas Latifi was slowest of anyone in first practice, but he did get ahead of his (admittedly compromised) Williams team mate Alex Albon in FP2. But the highlight of his weekend - and quite probably his entire season to date - came on Saturday where wet conditions allowed him to go out and have some fun, resulting in a timesheet-topping display of aqua ability to go two thirds of a second ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc no less (not to mention nine tenths quicker than Albon). It's a shame the inclement conditions didn't persist into qualifying, where he was of course back in last place. There's not a great deal to say about his race, where by lap 10 the only people he was ahead of were the two cars that had been forced to make early stops for repairs (Albon and Kevin Magnussen). He himself had sustained damage to his front wing which resulted in heavy tyre degradation: he made two tours on mediums before changing to softs on lap 39, but couldn't make them last to the finish and had to stop again on lap 56 for another set. Given all that it's a genuine surprise that he still managed to finish ahead of Yuki Tsunoda.
Alexander Albon (P17): 5.5/10
After a reasonable start on Friday where he was P16 albeit two seconds off the front runners, Albon didn't have the smoothest of times in FP2 where he went for a spin and then lost time in the pits with a mechanical issue. Like his Williams team mate he had fun in the wet conditions on Saturday morning and was third quickest behind Nicholas Latifi and Charles Leclerc. However it was business as usual when the track dried up and he missed the cut at the end of the first round of qualifying. His prayers of rain for the race weren't answered, and when the lights went out he made a flying start only to suffer a hit to his front wing that forced him to pit for repairs which dropped him to the back of the field. After that there were few opportunities for advancements in a race notable for the lack of retirements. He had succeeded in climbing up to P16 before his first proper pit stop on lap 21 put him at the back again. From there, he didn't manage to pass Yuki Tsunoda until lap 33; a second stop on lap 40 and another pass on Tsunoda followed. Tyre wear and blue flags meant there was little chance for improvement in the closing laps, although a late pit stop for Latifi put Albon ahead of his team mate by the finish.
