Alexander Albon (P14): 6.5/10
Williams started the season off pace and then upgrades delivered that wonderful spurt in performance that saw Alex Albon finish in the points in seven races between Canada and Mexico, which jumped the team into seventh place on the constructors championship. But after that the team seemed to run out of energy in the closing races and Albon was unable to contribute any more points, while an improved AlphaTauri had suddenly started to catch them up. On a circuit not well suited to the FW45, Albon suffered from tyre overheating on Saturday but still scrambled through to the second round of qualifying, only to lose four places in the opening laps of Sunday's race starting on a used set of mediums. Once he was onto the hards he fared better and recovered those early dropped spots, but that was the disappointing limit for Albon this week.
Pierre Gasly (P13): 7.5/10
There's a nagging feeling that Pierre Gasly is being given short shrift at Alpine, which consistently seems to favour Esteban Ocon when it comes to race strategies and team orders despite being ahead in the points. This week he was in the top ten in Friday's practice sessions and duly made it into the final pole shoot-out in qualifying, although he then found himself held up by Oscar Piastri meaning he was only P10 on the grid. His race started decently enough, but when it came to the first round of pit stops the team called Ocon in first which gave him the undercut on Gasly even though it was really too early for Ocon on a one stopper. When Gasly pitted a second time on lap 32 he was on much fresher tyres but still stuck behind Ocon, who was disinclined to let him pass. Whether Gasly's car damaged by earlier encounters with Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton could have caught and passed Daniel Ricciardo and Lance Stroll to get into the points is moot; the question is whether it had even occurred to the team to try.
