Valtteri Bottas (P14): 6.5/10
There seems little sign of life at Alfa Romeo as its partnership with Sauber stumbles toward the exit in advance of Audi moving in. Valtteri Bottas made some gains during practice, starting in 15th on Friday and then climbing to P9 and P8 in the ensuing sessions. No one was expecting great things in qualifying, but ending up in 19th at the end of Q1 was still a definite disappointment for the Finn. He pronounced himself 'extremely perplexed' by the sudden slump when it mattered, with overheating tyres among the suspected culprits. He was also unhappy at the start of the race when the team told him not to pit at the end of lap 1 as the rain hit. Staying out on slicks for 16 laps essentially lobotomised his afternoon, and a middle stint on mediums did him few favours either. He hadn't long switched to softs on lap 47 when the rain returned and forced him back onto intermediates, but any advantage he might have got from his was undone by the red flag when everyone got a free switch anyway. Simply nothing went right for Bottas, and he's right to blame some poor strategy calls by the team for a lot of it.
Liam Lawson (P13): 7.5/10
A rather flattering rating for the Kiwi newbie, you say? You'd be right, but we're factoring in the full context of Liam Lawson's maiden outing this weekend at Zandvoort. He arrived in the Netherlands on Thursday with no idea that he would be making his debut Formula 1 Grand Prix appearance within 72 hours, at the wheel of an AlphaTauri that he'd never even been in before. His world was turned upside down on Friday afternoon when Daniel Ricciardo crashed while avoiding Oscar Piastri and broke his hand. Within the hour Dr Helmut Marko was trying to find Lawson's number in his address book to tell him there was a slight change in plans, and by the way had he by any chance packed his race suit and helmet? Given the fact that even the best drivers in the world were finding the wet and windy conditions taxing this weekend, Lawson did well in FP3 with a single harmless spin into the gravel as he got to grips with his new reality. He didn't over do things in qualifying, and got his reward in the race when he pitted at the end of lap 1 when the rain came and he emerged in P11. After that it was about keeping it on track and not making any mistakes, and completing all 72 laps of the race without getting in the way. He did exactly that and in the process finished in front of veterans like Kevin Magnussen and Valtteri Bottas. He was even classified ahead of team mate Yuki Tsunoda. All boxes well and truly ticked for Lawson's first Grand Prix.
