Valtteri Bottas (S P10, GP P8, 4 pts): 7.5/10
It was good to see an unexpectedly strong weekend for the hitherto waning Alfa Romeo team. Valtteri Bottas led the charge, making it through to the final round of qualifying on Friday for the first time since the Hungarian Grand Prix. "It's a surprise," he candidly admitted. Although he had a quiet Sprint and didn't finish in the points (reserved for the top eight only). Instead he used it to gather data that would serve him well for the Grand Prix on Sunday. He used the early safety car to ditch his soft tyres straight away, and a stint on the mediums saw him push briefly into the top three before spending the rest of the race on the hard tyres within touching distance of the points. Zhou Guanyu's late stop meant he finished just ahead of his team mate in eighth place once miscellaneous post-race penalties for track infringements were factored in.
Esteban Ocon (S DNF, GP P7, 6 pts): 7.5/10
Once again, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly were closely matched on track. Judging from the outcome of qualifying, Gasly had a narrow edge on Ocon, but then Ocon turned the tables and made it through to the top ten of the Sprint Showdown while Gasly just missed the final cut. Unfortunately Ocon's Sprint ended prematurely in the gravel after being spun by Nico Hulkenberg into the side of Sergio Perez on lap 10. The stewards subsequently cleared him of any blame for causing the collision, and who are we to disagree? In the race he started on used mediums and managed to pick off Gasly on the first lap before making an early visit to the pits on lap 10. After that he started to feel nauseous from the stifling conditions in the cockpit and at one point even threw up in his helmet. That he made it to the finish, still in the top ten, is pretty remarkable and deserves at least an extra half point.
