Kevin Magnussen (SP14, P18): 4.5/10
While his team mate Nico Hulkenberg made the most of the Haas' aptitude for the sprint races, Kevin Magnussen simply couldn't catch a break in Austria. He was only two tenths slower than the other Haas in qualifying after being blocked by Max Verstappen on his first run and with downshifting issues, but that difference meant he qualified on the back row of the grid. He did better on Saturday when he made it into the final round of the showdown, but while Hulkenberg was relishing the conditions in the sprint he found the car a handful on intermediates on the wet track. Sunday saw him start from pit lane after the team opted to make changes to the car overnight but they needn't have bothered. It put him alongside AlphaTauri's Nyck de Vries and the pair tangled repeatedly during the race, with one incident sending the Haas flying into the gravel at turn 6 at high speed. Amazingly he was able to continue but he was still unable to prise himself away from the back of the field for the rest of the day. On the other hand, at least he had a longer race than Hulkenberg managed.
Nyck de Vries (SP17, P17): 4/10
The spotlight is on Nyck de Vries and the rumours that AlphaTauri are growing tired of his failure to thrive at Faenza are getting louder by the day. And fans of the former Formula E champion though we are, we have to say those rumours are not without basis. This was a particularly bad weekend for him, potentially the final nail in his F1 coffin if the team really is considering making a change over the summer break. He was slowest of all in qualifying, but perked up in the showdown to make the second round only to lose three places in the sprint: "I got off to a bad start with a lot of wheelspin, then the wear on the tyres was rapid," he explained, regretting not switching to the slicks earlier in the sprint than he did. He started the Grand Prix from pit lane after the team made overnight changes, where he was joined by Haas' Kevin Magnussen. The two cars then tangled repeatedly during the race and de Vries was given a five second penalty for forcing the Dane off the road at turn 6. There were also multiple penalties for him for exceeding track limits, but in fairness that was also true of team mate Yuki Tsunoda suggesting that the AT04 was simply an unwieldy handful around the Red Bull Ring.
