Alexander Albon (P10, 1 pt): 9/10
Alex Albon had gone a bit quiet in the races leading up to the summer break, but the Williams driver was back on sparkling form at Spa. Sixth fastest in first practice was a great way to start the weekend, although of course there was no way he would be starting the race that high up on Sunday, right? He duly settled back to a more representative P11 in the second session and just P14 on Saturday before heading into qualifying with solid expectations of making the first cut. Which he did, and then some, as he made it through to the final top ten pole shoot-out as well to end the session in P9. After grid penalties were applied to those ahead of him, Albon found himself starting from a remarkably good P6 after all. Yes, some of that was luck, but his progression into Q3 in the first place was entirely well deserved. He was obviously going to lose out to the faster cars starting behind him who would be busy recovering through the order, and he duly dropped to P17 when he made an early first pit stop on lap 10, but it worked out well and he was back in the top ten as the other drivers' stops cycled through. His second and final service saw him come out crucially ahead of Lance Stroll, and he shadowed Pierre Gasly all the way to the finish having jealously protected his precious championship point all the way to the finish line by making the Williams the hardest thing to pass on four wheels in the Ardennes. "The last twenty laps seemed endless to me, I told myself that he was going to end up overtaking!"
Pierre Gasly (P9, 2 pts): 7.5/10
Heading into his 100th Grand Prix, Pierre Gasly was missing from the action in first practice after his seat was handed over to rising Red Bull star Liam Lawson. It left him a little on the back foot when he reported for duty in second practice and was only 14th, just behind AlphaTauri team mate Yuki Tsunoda; but by final practice the pendulum had well and truly swung, with Gasly tenth and Tsunoda down in 18th. The Japanese driver failed to make it out of Q1 while Gasly ended up in 12th place, which was converted to eighth on the grid after sundry grid penalties had been applied. But neither AlphaTauri driver would take their allowed place on the grid on Sunday - Tsunoda changed engine parts overnight, while Gasly suffered an electrical issue before the formation lap. Both cars had to start from pit lane instead, which at least kept them safe from any first lap mayhem at La Source and Eau Rouge. Gasly had started the race on medium tyres in expectation of a good position, but converting to an early stop to change to the hard compound on lap 10 turned out to be an unexpectedly effective strategy. He was up to seventh before that thrilling three-way battle with Esteban Ocon and Sebastian Vettel down the Kemmel Straight which dropped him back to ninth behind Vettel for the final ten laps.
