Pierre Gasly (P12): 7/10
It wasn't a terrible start to the weekend for Pierre Gasly, but after opening with P13 in first practice followed by P15 in the afternoon and then P19 in the unrepresentative rain-hit final practice on Saturday, things were definitely trending in the wrong direction even before he hit qualifying. He then had a crucial lap time deleted for exceeding track limits which meant he was short of progressing to the second round by more than three tenths of a second and he was set to start the race from 19th place. AlphaTauri opted to make the most of the situation by loading on a raft of new engine components, since the resulting pit lane start was hardly was hardly much of a setback by this point. With only one retirement all afternoon it was always going to be a tall order to make it into the points on Sunday, but Gasly gave it a good go and certainly had a better time in the race than he'd had up to any point so far this weekend. He rose to 13th on his first set of soft tyres before pitting on lap 16 and dropping back to the back, repeated this in his next run on mediums, and finished off with a stint on the soft tyres that allowed him to go one better by the chequered flag. Although he missed out on points, all the overtaking had put a smile back on Gasly's face and given him hope that the moribund AT03 was finally finding some pace and showing a spark of life.
Lance Stroll (P11): 6.5/10
Heading into the weekend, Lance Stroll was aware that the spotlight was very much on his Aston Martin team mate this weekend after Sebastian Vettel had announced his retirement from the sport. Stroll stayed out of the way and kept his head down, more or less matching Vettel for pace in first practice. Although he fell behind in FP2, Stroll had the last laugh when he made it through to the second round of qualifying despite struggling for grip in the cooler Saturday conditions, while Vettel had failed to make the cut at the end of Q1. Despite starting the race on soft tyres, Stroll made little progress in the opening stint before pitting for mediums on lap 14. He stayed out a lot longer this time, picked off Fernando Alonso and settled in behind Daniel Ricciardo which saw him climb up to eighth place before he made his second stop on lap 46, having to switch to soft tyres as there were no more mediums left in his locker. He was sent into a spin by Ricciardo as the pair emerged from pit lane, but recovered and soon got the better of Zhou Guanyu. He spent a while tracking Valtteri Bottas before finally putting the Alfa Romeo in the rear view mirror on lap 62, but by now his soft tyres were feeling the strain. He let Vettel past on lap 65 in the hope that the four-time champion could make an impression on the Alpines ahead, but a late Virtual Safety Car put paid to that plan.
