Valtteri Bottas (SP13, P12): 6/10
Valtteri Bottas seemed to be lacking in some confidence in the wet conditions at Spa this weekend, finding the constantly changing grip levels hard work to get on top of. He just made it through to the second round of qualifying but could do no better than 14th after daring to run on the slicks. In the Showdown he missed the first cut and was consigned to 17th on the grid for the Sprint, but made up several positions by being among the first to switch to intermediates tyres in the first green flag lap following the rolling start behind the safety car. He said that his performance gave him hope of a decent Grand Prix on Sunday, and after straying onto the grass at the start to avoid Yuki Tsunoda he did indeed put in a solid performance that saw him follow Alpine pair Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly to the line in 12th. His team mate Zhou Guanyu came close to passing him at the end having made a late stop for a fresher set of soft tyres, Bottas preferring to stick to mediums after the initial stint.
Pierre Gasly (SP3, P11, 6 pts): 8/10
A large part of Pierre Gasly's score for the weekend comes from his performance in Saturday's Sprint race, in which a good grid position in P6 was converted to a chance of a podium by the decision to pit for intermediates at the start of the first green flag lap following a rolling start behind behind the safety car in wet track conditions. He was under pressure for the position from Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton but they eventually collided and took each other out of contention, leaving Gasly able to claim a spot in the top three. The following day's race didn't pan out so well for the Frenchman, who had missed the second cut in qualifying and started from 12th place. A gain of four spots at the start was neutralised by the need to make the soft tyres last all the way to lap 23 before he could take on a set of mediums. He resumed in 11th behind Alex Albon and while he passed the Williams on lap 31, he was overtaken by team mate Esteban Ocon and found himself stuck behind Yuki Tsunoda in the closing laps, his tyres now too worn to make the final pass that might have secured him a points finish to wash away the bitter taste of last week's double DNF.
