Lewis Hamilton (P4, 12 pts): 8.5/10
After his doom-and-gloom summary at the end of Friday where he finished down in 16th (and his Mercedes team mate slowest of all), one might have thought it best to keep Lewis Hamilton away from sharp objects for the night. And yet, as we've seen several times this season already, it was another day altogether on Saturday when he topped final practice before miraculously pulling off a pole-winning lap in the final round of qualifying. He pipped Max Verstappen to the top spot by three thousandths of a second to take his first pole since Saudi Arabia in 2021, an interval of 33 races. The crowd - and the Hungarian fans really do love Sir Lewis - went wild. Unfortunately they were left groaning at the start of the race on Sunday when Hamilton was driven wide by Verstappen diving down the inside of turn 1, which allowed the two McLarens to get ahead of the Mercedes as well. If not for that, might Hamilton have finished the race on second or on the podium at least? Maybe, but the W14 was suffering from overheating in the scorching hot conditions and at times was running on reduced power, so maybe not. Verstappen was certainly out of reach, and Sergio Perez likewise too quick for Hamilton to prevent him getting through. At least Hamilton was able to take revenge on Piastri on lap 57 to secure fourth place. He'll be irked to miss out on a second consecutive podium, but there's no faulting the seven-time champion's commitment this week.
Sergio Perez (P3, 15 pts): 8/10
Red Bull boss Christian Horner called Sergio Perez' performance in Sunday's race a "statement drive", and the fans loved how he battled his way onto the podium after something of a lean spell for him in recent outings and voted him Driver of the Day. But the Mexican isn't out of the woods yet, and a troubled final round in qualifying was another indication to many of the pressure he must be feeling knowing that Daniel Ricciardo is waiting in the wings, inching closer to taking over the wheel of the RB19 at the first opportunity. Perez didn't set a time in the rain-hit FP1 after an embarrassing accident on his very first lap, and both he and Max Verstappen struggled for grip and with a lack of available sets of tyres in FP2. It wasn't until final practice that Perez looked on form at least, going third fastest in FP3. In qualifying he did well on the hard tyres in Q1, so-so on the mediums in Q2, but then struggled with the softs in Q3 leaving him a disappointing ninth. But if it was a mixed report card up to that point, it's nothing but straight As for his Sunday performance which saw Perez at his scrapping best, dispatching Nico Hulkenberg at the start, Fernando Alonso on lap 8 and Carlos Sainz in lap 15. Having started on hard tyres he was able to stay out until lap 24 before pitting, by which point he was briefly up to second behind Verstappen. He was stuck behind Lewis Hamilton when he came back out and made an early second stop on lap 42 for more mediums which allowed him to pass both Hamilton and Oscar Piastri by lap 50 and make a charge for Lando Norris. But by now his tyres had given their all and he had to settle for third - and a valuable spot on the podium.
