Lance Stroll (P6, 8 pts): 7.5/10
Every so often Lance Stroll goes into stealth mode and hardly pulls focus all weekend, until popping up at the end having somehow secured Aston Martin an impressive result. That was pretty much the case this week in Melbourne, where he was quicker than team mate Fernando Alonso in both of Friday's practice sessions. He started ahead of the Spaniard on the grid having made it through to the final top ten pole shoot-out round. The Canadian was able to push ahead of Yuki Tsunoda at the start of the race, and stopped slightly earlier than other drivers who like himself has started the race on mediums. He moved to hard tyres for the rest of the afternoon but was on used sets throughout. Even so, he remained almost unnoticed running in eighth, unable to make progress squeezed between George Russell and Tsunoda. Russell's final lap accident and Alonso's subsequent penalty for his part in it promoted Stroll to P6 after the chequered flag.
Sergio Perez (P5, 10 pts): 7/10
Sergio Perez' main purpose at Red Bull is to be there to pick up the baton and fly the team colours should the unthinkable befall team leader Max Verstappen. Such an issue arose two laps into the Australian GP with a brake fire forcing Verstappen to retire for the first time in two years. And where was Perez? Not at the front where he was supposed to be. He'd made slightly heavy work of it in practice, and although he was third fastest in qualifying he incurred a crucial grid penalty for impeding Nico Hulkenberg that dropped him back to P6. Fans expected him to make rapid progress over the opening laps and join his team mate at the front; but not only did Verstappen end up retiring, Perez himself just didn't seem to have the pace necessary to find a way past the Ferraris and McLarens ahead of him. He did pull a pass on Fernando Alonso on lap 27, and George Russell on lap 45, but that was about all he was able to do on Sunday. The team later revealed that a tear-off stuck in the floor of the RB20 had been the cause of the rather lacklustre run.
