Nico Hulkenberg (S DNF, GP P16): 5.5/10
It was a rather uneven weekend for Nico Hulkenberg. He managed to survive the first cut in qualifying on Friday, but the following day he was outstanding in the Sprint Showdown to bag a top ten start. Unfortunately he got caught up in the incident that took out Sergio Perez (clinching the title for Max Verstappen in the process). While the collision wasn't his fault - more of a racing incident if we're honest - it was still a messy end to his day. And then on Sunday he self-sabotaged his race by lining up in the wrong grid slot (taking the position left vacant by Carlos Sainz) and incurring a hefty penalty that left him slogging around at the back for the rest of the evening. It's a rather unforgivable error for someone of Hulkenberg's experience.
Yuki Tsunoda (S P11, GP P15): 6/10
Yuki Tsunoda just missed out on making it all the way through to the final round of qualifying, but was still happy with his performance as a whole and with P11 on the grid for Sunday's race ahead of Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez. The Sprint Shown down was a disappointment and left the AlphaTauri driver too far back to claw his way into the points despite the high number of retirements on Saturday. He featured strongly in the first half of the Grand Prix but the switch to hard tyres for the final two stints worked against him. He struggled to find any rhythm and lacked the requisite straight line speed to allow him any real shot at challenging for points.
