Oscar Piastri, McLaren (SP2, P2, 25 pts): 9/10
A weekend of fine margins, what-ifs and maybes for Oscar Piastri who was close to glory at times but managed to trip up at just the wrong moment. He was second quickest in FP1 (behind Max Verstappen, inevitably) and was just a whisker behind his McLaren teammate in Sprint Qualifying. In the race, Piastri took advantage of Norris attempting to pass Verstappen to make a play of his own to end up in second place. Norris likely won't be happy about that, but Piastri was perfectly right to take advantage of the situation. He should have been near the front again for the Grand Prix, but having his final Q3 lap time deleted dumped him down to seventh on the grid where he tangled with Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez at the start. He emerged relatively unscathed compared to the others, and a long first stint even saw him briefly in the lead on lap 24. It looked like he was headed for a respectable sixth place when suddenly everything kicked up a gear: he put Lewis Hamilton to the sword on lap 54 and was taking care of business with Carlos Sainz when Max Verstappen and Lando Norris made contact on lap 64. When the race resumed after a Virtual Safety Car, Piastri didn't have time to catch Russell. He admitted coming so close to his maiden F1 victory did hurt, and admitted that if not for that Q3 deletion he would almost certainly have won in those circumstances. Even so, it was a remarkable performance for our Driver of the Day.
George Russell, Mercedes (SP4, P1, 30 pts): 8.5/10
Last week in Spain we carried comments from George Russell in which he confidently predicted that Mercedes would win a race before the year was out, or at the very least early in 2025. We won't say that we laughed out loud, but it was certainly a bold statement from Russell given where Mercedes started the season. Yes, they have definitely come along in leaps and bounds since then and have shown that they are firmly in the mix for podiums, but the reality is that Red Bull remains well out in front pursued by a bear (McLaren), while Mercedes' more realistic target is to overhaul the flagging Ferraris. To actually win a race still looked out of reach for now, and we thought Russell would come to rue his rash display of optimism and have to eat his words. It took a bizarre confluence of events in Spielberg, but we're the ones with egg on our face and we couldn't be happier. Arguably they lucked into the victory, but Mercedes had been strong throughout and always in the mix, and crucially Russell was in the right place at the right time when opportunity came knocking. He duly picked up the baton and ran with it to the line. Bravo, George! Now, why not do it all again at Silverstone?
