Alexander Albon (P8, 4 pts): 9/10
Alex Albon travelled to Zandvoort with Lando Norris, who asked him how he thought Williams would fare this weekend. Albon's response was not very positive. Maybe he was sandbagging, because in fact Williams looked fantastic throughout, Albon in particular but Logan Sargeant also didn't do badly at all suggesting that it really was a team effort and there was something about the circuit conditions that just suited the FW45 as a whole. Albon was fifth in FP1, third in FP2, still a decent sixth in FP3, but no one expected him to not only make it into the final round of qualifying but also secure an impressive second row grid spot in P4. Brilliant stuff! Unfortunately the team got the key wet weather tyre strategy calls wrong on Sunday, committing Albon to a bizarre extended 44-lap first stint despite early rain in which he nearly crashed multiple times, only to then move him to medium tyres presumably to make it to the finish (or did the team not know about the tyre compound regulations being different for wet races?) That was void when the rain returned: Albon had pitted from fourth for intermediates just before the race was red flagged and everyone got a 'free' change to inters for the restart leaving Albon running to the finish in eighth. Another driver who deserved better today, although the four points he got still played a crucial role breaking Williams' previous tie with Haas in the constructors standings.
Lando Norris (P7, 6 pts): 8.5/10
There's been a definite surge of confidence around McLaren since they brought in their game-changing package of upgrades before the summer break. We've been worrying that the boost may eventually wear off - as it did for a spell at Aston Martin - but there's no sigh of it yet and Zandvoort was another very positive weekend for the team and for Lando Norris in particular, even if the final outcome wasn't as good as hoped. He was a solid sixth in first practice and then dazzled by pipping Max Verstappen to the top spot in FP2. A fluke? Not at all, and he was the main challenger to Verstappen's hopes of getting pole for his home race in qualifying. Starting alongside the Red Bull on the front row, Norris knew better than to think he would be able to win the race; but he fully expected to reap a podium for his efforts especially with the likes of Sergio Perez, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc no where in sight. Unfortunately those hopes got squelched when rain fell at the start of the race and McLaren were slow to bring him in for inters, dropping him out of the top ten. When the rain eased he was put on used softs that left him stuck behind Yuki Tsunoda in 11th place. When the rain subsequently returned and the race red-flagged for flooding, Norris found himself in a Mercedes sandwich between Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. After the restart he focused on a run to the line in seventh place, less than hoped for but a decent day in the circumstances.
