George Russell (Fastest Lap, P4, 13 pts): 8/10
Remember when we were excited about the long run of consistency that saw George Russell finish in the top five in race after race? After stumbling in Singapore and Japan, he's back to the same level again - only now it's starting to feel a little frustrating, not just for his fans but for Russell himself who is clearly chomping at the bit to claim his first win for Mercedes. At the same time he will be keenly aware that his team mate Lewis Hamilton is very much back on it after spending the first half the season distracted by testing and development duties. Russell missed out on first practice for a swan song appearance for the Silver Arrows by Nyck de Vries, but was quickest in both FP2 and FP3 and a favourite to challenge for pole in qualifying. That he lost out to Max Verstappen is in the circumstances no disgrace, especially as he pipped Hamilton to the front row. But after some recent mishaps on the first lap, Russell took the start of the race too cautiously and ended up getting beaten into turn 1 by Hamilton, and sufficiently baulked in the process to open the door for Sergio Perez to snatch third away as well. That was basically the decisive moment for Russell, who was subsequently vocal about the team's decision to run a medium/hard tyre strategy which failed to pay off, as even team principal Toto Wolff subsequently admitted. The team threw Russell a bone with a late pit stop three laps from the end to take on a set of tyres to successfully pick up the bonus point for fastest lap, once it was clear there was no chance of Perez' tyres going off in time to give Russell a chance of getting on the podium.
Sergio Perez (P3, 15 pts): 8/10
Sergio Perez might have been slightly quicker than his Red Bull team mate Max Verstappen at the end of first practice, but by Saturday normal service had been resumed. He was fifth quickest in FP3 and then had to settle for fourth on the grid behind Verstappen and the two Mercedes cars at the end of qualifying. Buoyed by the ear-splitting volume of cheers from his fans in the grandstands and wanting to give them something to really celebrate, Perez was alert to the opportunity that immediately presented itself going into the first corner of the race. Lewis Hamilton had ambushed George Russell, and that held up Russell just enough to give Perez a way past of his own. After that the race came down to whether Perez could catch and pass Hamilton (he couldn't) and whether Perez could manage to prevent Russell snatching the podium place back (he could). He was helped by Red Bull's slightly risky strategy of starting on softs and pitting early on lap 23 for a set of mediums, which he had to make last all the way to the finish; but Perez is known as being one of the best 'tyre whisperers' on todays grid and this proved no problem for him as he proceeded to pick up his tenth podium of the season - including those two wins in Monaco and Singapore. No such joy for him at his home race, but Perez looked happy enough all the same.
