Logan Sargeant (P18): 6/10
Monaco is as far from the usual sort of circuit for an American racer as it's possible to imagine. He probably felt homesick watching coverage of the Indy 500 in the evening, which would have been much closer to his idea of a 'proper' race track; to be honest, he has a point. But credit where it's due, Logan Sargeant put in a solid weekend of work in the principality in his first outing here in F1 equipment. Even if the Williams had been up to the task, it would have been asking a lot of a rookie driver to do any better than he did this weekend. Simply lasting the distance and causing no significant incidents was a big tick in the performance appraisal box for him. Yes, he missed the cut in the first round of qualifying putting him 13 places behind his team mate, but the difference to Alex Albon was nonetheless only four tenths - not bad. His race was compromised by first lap contact with Nico Hulkenberg (for which the Haas was penalised) which dropped him off the back of the pack. A puncture shortly after his scheduled pit stop forced him to switch to soft tyres (the only ones he had left in the locker by this point) and it was probably a relief when the rain came and he could finish the race on inters. All things considered, that's a lot of valuable learning packed into one race.
Nico Hulkenberg (P17): 5.5/10
As with Kevin Magnussen, things were initially quietly promising for Nico Hulkenberg in the second Haas. But right from FP1 when he kissed the barrier, the weekend gradually fell apart for him and a spin during the first round of qualifying meant that he missed the cut and had to start the race from a deeply disappointing P18. As a result he was caught up in a messy first lap incident when a slow Alex Albon compressed the field, leaving Hulkenberg squeezing Logan Sargeant into the barrier. It earned him a five second penalty that was incorrectly served, resulting in a post-race ten second sanction instead. The collision also forced him to pit for a new front wing and set of hard tyres at the end of the first lap, so that really was pretty much the end of any hopes he might have had for Sunday. He carried on regardless and was rewarded with an extra place in the closing laps when Sergio Perez came in for his fifth and final pit stop on lap 70. It's not a result Hulkenberg will savour, but you got the feeling he had still enjoyed the experience of racing at Monaco again, and of facing down the wet weather toward the end. "I'm already happy to have survived!"
