Charles Leclerc (P6, 8 pts): 8/10
Charles Leclerc was clearly seeking to bounce back from the crushing disappointment of last week's race in France where he had crashed out of the lead and done incalculable damage to his hopes of catching Max Verstappen in the drivers championship. A win in Hungary was called for to restore his confidence and some sense of momentum. Instead, the team managed to pull off another embarrassing prat fall. It started well enough on Friday where Leclerc was third in first practice and then quickest of anyone in FP2. Despite going for a full spin, he showed off his rain skills in FP3 (although Nicholas Latifi went one better) only to stutter in qualifying where he wasn't quite able to match his Ferrari team mate Carlos Sainz' Q3 time - and then both were ambushed by a late flier from first time pole winner George Russell. In the race, the Mercedes driver was able to prevent Sainz and Leclerc from passing at the start, but after the first round of pit stops Leclerc was able to pile on the pressure and finally broke the impasse with a brilliant move to take the lead on lap 31. But then a second stop for Leclerc put the Ferrari on hard tyres that weren't working, and Verstappen was able to pass him for the effective lead on lap 45 (not just once, but twice as it turned out). Leclerc switched back to the softs on lap 54 but this dropped him to sixth behind Sergio Perez. It was another opportunity squandered by poor decision making at the team, and a driver looking increasingly out of sorts with how his title campaign is falling apart around him.
Sergio Perez (P5, 10 pts): 7/10
It seems harsh to label Sergio Perez' weekend as disappointing when he still managed to finish in the top five, but Hungary proved to be a bit of a slog for the Mexican and it's unlikely he will look back at it with any great fondness. He finished first practice in P6, over seven tenths behind his Red Bull team mate Max Verstappen, and dropped even further back in FP2. Not minded to risk inflicting any damage to the RB18 in the rain, he was slowest of all in FP3. Even so, it was a surprise when he missed the final cut in qualifying and had to settle for P11 on the grid. Normally this would have meant he was too far away to help Verstappen with team strategy for the race, but circumstances conspired otherwise and Perez found himself lining just one place behind the Dutch driver, an ideal situation for them to team up. Both of them made a late choice to start on soft tyres, and immediately took care of Daniel Ricciardo and the Alpines of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon before running up behind Lewis Hamilton. They avoided a direct confrontation with the Mercedes by pitting first: Verstappen achieved the undercut but Perez found himself still stuck behind Hamilton for the next 20 laps. Perez had been hoping to be able to go to the finish on the mediums but had to give up that plan on lap 42, while a long second stint for Hamilton put the Merc out of reach. However Leclerc's failed bid to switch to hard tyres gave Perez the chance to snatch fifth place in the closing laps, resulting in a reasonable day's work.
