Lewis Hamilton (P6, 8 pts): 7.5/10
Whatever the conditions, Lewis Hamilton was in the top five in all three practice sessions this weekend and would certainly have felt confident about making it to the final top ten pole shoot-out round in qualifying. And then he came up against Yuki Tsunoda, who impeded him at a vital moment in Q2 and left Hamilton unable to put in a final flying lap, causing him to miss the cut and line up in 13th place on the grid at a circuit not known for overtaking. But then the weather played a major role on Sunday, and any assumptions anyone might have made about what was possible went flying out of the window. Hamilton started the race on mediums clearly planning a long first stint, which might explain why Mercedes were slow to bring him in, waiting until the end of lap 3 after the rain had started the minute the lights went out. That dropped him to the back of the field. He was one of the first to revert to slicks on lap 9, and a long run on new soft tyres saw him get to lap 45 before his next service. He was up to seventh by the time the rain finally returned, heavier this time. The race was red-flagged and Hamilton took the restart in sixth place behind Carlos Sainz, giving the Ferrari a playful nudge to make his presence felt but ultimately not able to do anything about getting past before the chequered flag.
Carlos Sainz (P5, 10 pts): 8/10
Ferrari were clearly not happy this weekend at Zandvoort, but while Charles Leclerc's campaign fell apart with the painful inexorability of a damaged underfloor, Carlos Sainz used his street smarts to scrap his way to fifth place which is surely as good as anyone at Maranello could reasonably have hoped for. Sainz had actually missed the whole of FP1 after renting out his seat to reserve driver Robert Shwartzman, perhaps accounting for a poor time in FP2 where he was just 16th and then merely 12th in FP3, lagging Leclerc on both occasions. It was a surprise when both drivers managed to make it through to the final round of qualifying; while Leclerc spun out in Q3, Sainz kept it together and emerged with a solid sixth place on the grid, despite a near miss with Oscar Piastri as he exited pit lane. When the rain started at lights out on Sunday, Leclerc pitted first costing Sainz time and positions, but when everything shook out he was still P7 before a return to slicks when the rain stopped on lap 10. After that Sainz settled in for a long stint running in fifth place behind Pierre Gasly. He narrowly undercut the Alpine by pitting again first on lap 41, but was undone by the return of the rain on lap 60 and a need to pit for inters before the race was red-flagged. The restart saw him back behind Gasly, now in fifth place, which he successfully held onto despite the odd "I'm still here, you know!" nudge from Lewis Hamilton.
