Sergio Perez, Red Bull (P8, 4 pts): 5.5/10
The good news for Sergio Perez is that Barcelona wasn't the sort of disaster that befell him in Monaco and Montreal. But at the same time it was a long way from the renaissance he was so dearly hoping for. Red Bull as a whole lacked their usual dominance and on top of that Perez was a long way off the pace of Max Verstappen, leaving him working hard to overcome a three place grid penalty held over from the previous race. Although he did make it through to the final round of qualifying, a messy Q3 effort saw him in eighth and consequently out of the top ten on the grid once the penalty kicked in. Getting stuck behind the fast-starting Nico Hulkenberg didn't help him on Sunday, and a congested midfield meant he struggled to make progress and got wedged between the two Alpines in the closing stages. He did get past Pierre Gasly on the final lap, but it was far from the comeback drive he would have been hoping for.
Oscar Piastri, McLaren (P7, 6 pts): 7/10
While his team mate is growing in confidence and pace at the moment, Oscar Piastri seems to be going into something of a sophomore slump. He's too talented for this to last for long but at the moment he looks a little anonymous, which is hard to manage dressed in lurid papaya. He was in the top ten throughout practice but some way behind Lando Norris in each case. While Norris snatched a memorable pole on Saturday, Piastri made two mistakes in Q3 leaving him without a final round time. Promoted to P9 on the grid after Sergio Perez' penalty, he quickly found his way past Esteban Ocon but dropped back during the pit stops and found himself fighting to stay ahead of Pierre Gasly for the latter half of the race, unable to do anything about the two Ferrari cars ahead.
