Esteban Ocon (SP7, P14, 2 pts): 7/10
On the whole, Esteban Ocon and his Alpine team mate Pierre Gasly were well matched throughout this weekend at the Red Bull Ring. Any differences in their results were largely down to the slightest variances in circumstance and luck. In Friday's qualifying session, Ocon narrowly missed the final cut after having a fast lap time deleted for track limits, while Gasly slipped through to the final top ten pole shoot-out round; but in the showdown, it was Ocon who succeeded while Gasly fell short. Ocon enjoyed himself in the inclement conditions of the sprint, likening it to a kart race (a comparison also made by Lewis Hamilton) which put a big smile on his face. He enjoyed his battle with Charles Leclerc and was delighted to beat George Russell to the line by nine thousandths of a second to pick up two championship points. Unfortunately the Grand Prix itself was not nearly so much fun and he earned himself a slew of penalties for exceeding track limits, as well as one for an unsafe release on pit lane after a near-miss with Williams' Logan Sargeant. That all was too much to come back from and he ended up well outside the points by the chequered flag.
Logan Sargeant (SP18, P13): 6.5/10
Logan Sargeant finally got his hands on Williams' latest upgrade package that had performed so well for Alex Albon in Montreal, which meant a whole new car for the rookie to get used to. A blizzard of deleted lap times for track limits violations in qualifying helped elevate Sargeant off the back row of the grid, but he lamented being too cautious as he missed the cut nonetheless. He was slowest of all in the showdown after having one of his best laps deleted, but enjoyed himself fighting with the Alfa Romeos and AlphaTauris at the back in the sprint. He was able to pass Valtteri Bottas at the start of Sunday's race when the Alfa ran over debris from the Tsunoda/Ocon clash, and Sargeant spent the first 20 laps circulating behind McLaren's Oscar Piastri with Zhou Guanyu hot on his heels. The view ahead changed in the second half of the race when it was Esteban Ocon's Alpine thwarting his progress. A penalty for exceeding track limits meant that Sargeant ended up classified where he had finished, in 13th place, although he had looked more calmly assured about his craft this weekend than at any time so far this season.
