Oscar Piastri (P4, 12 pts): 9.5/10
It's been a slow start to his rookie season for Oscar Piastri, with McLaren admitting that they had missed something in their winter development leaving them frantically playing catch-up with their B-spec MCL60 until now. That was probably no bad thing for Piastri who had been given time and space to settle in to his new job without feeling the weight of expectation of being in a car capable of regular points. He did break his duck with a lucky four points in his home race in Australia and another point in Monaco, but he didn't really have a car able of much more until this weekend at Silverstone. After a relatively subdued time in practice to bed in the new components, Piastri and his team mate Lando Norris pulled off one of the surprises of the season by qualifying for the race in the top three. Norris went on to snatch the lead from Max Verstappen at the start on Sunday, and Piastri showed his mettle by scrapping hard with the Red Bull in a just-thwarted bid to snatch second. In the end the timing of the safety car for Kevin Magnussen's retirement robbed him of a deserved third place and maiden podium, but the very idea that Piastri could be disappointed with a showing this strong shows how far McLaren have shot forward in a matter of days. Viva papaya!
Lewis Hamilton (P3, 15 pts): 9/10
Lewis Hamilton loves Silverstone, and Silverstone adores Lewis Hamilton in return, so there was extra pressure on the seven-time world champion to do well and not let his fans down this weekend. Maybe that accounts for the deep sense of disappointment when things didn't do to plan for Mercedes in practice, because no matter what else happened Hamilton dearly wanted to be back on the podium here at his home race. The trouble is that the competition from his compatriots is getting fiercer by the week, and this time it was Alex Albon (driving under the Thai flag but London born, so we'll consider him an honorary Brit for our purposes here) who was the surprise package in practice, Lando Norris providing the shock in qualifying, and even getting out-qualified by George Russell. Hamilton was having a solid race on Sunday despite dropping two spots at the start when he was pushed out wide in turn 3, but it was the timing of the safety car for Kevin Magnussen's retirement that transformed his prospects and put him back up to third. At the restart he did everything he could to pass Norris for second, but in the end had to settle for what he had - and another appearance on the podium soaking up the acclaim of his fans, just as he had been yearning for. Roscoe was doubtless happy with the outcome too.
