Valtteri Bottas (SP16, P18): 4/10
As noted, it was a pretty poor weekend for Alfa Romeo which was definitely the weakest team on the grid in Baku. It was also one of the weakest events for Valtteri Bottas that we've seen. He was slower than his team mate Zhou Guanyu in practice and the sprint showdown, but did manage to slip into the second round of qualifying for the Grand Prix. Like Lando Norris, he opted to use the soft compound for the start of the sprint which proved to be a big mistake. When it came to Sunday, he lined up in 13th place on the grid but got blocked by Oscar Piastri and Alex Albon going into turn 2 forcing him to brake, and as a result he was hit from behind by Kevin Magnussen which dropped him to 18th by the end of the first lap. By the time the safety car was scrambled for Nyck de Vries' accident he was running dead last - and that's the way it stayed all afternoon, with multiple pit stops doing him no good. He was a lap down by the chequered flag.
Nico Hulkenberg (SP15, P17): 5.5/10
It looks like a bad call in hindsight, but there was much to commend Haas' strategy of keeping Nico Hulkenberg out for as long as possible on Sunday. While other drivers said they were struggling on the hard tyres after a little as 20 laps, Hulkenberg went for 49 laps before finally making his stop in the hopes of a safety car or red flag materialising. Given that Hulkenberg had started from pit lane after the team made changes to the car overnight following the end of the sprint race in which he finished in 15th place, it was really their only hope of stealing a decent result in Baku. Staying out during the early safety car meant that Hulkenberg spent most of the afternoon in tenth, but the tyres started give up the ghost on lap 45 when Lando Norris pushed his way past, and the McLaren was followed by Yuki Tsunoda, Oscar Piastri and Alex Albon before Hulkenberg finally bowed to the inevitable and came in. A good try, well executed, but ultimately luck was simply not on the Hulk's side this week.
