Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin (SP15, Fastest Lap, P18): 4.5/10
Something has gone really badly wrong at Aston Martin in recent weeks. This was the team's worst performance of the season so far and possibly as bad as it's been ever since Fernando Alonso joined the team at the start of 2023 and elevated it to new heights. They had a slump mid-season last year too, but nothing quite this precipitous and it's going to be hard for them to pull it back in the second half of the season. Alonso looked bemused and out of ideas as he failed to make the final round in either of the weekend qualifying sessions, then going backwards from his starting position in the ensuing races. In the case of the Grand Prix he locked up and went into the back of Zhou Guanyu's Sauber on lap 22 to earn himself a ten-second penalty that pretty much wrote off his already awful day. Although he set the fastest lap in the race, finishing outside the top ten means he doesn't get the bonus point on offer for it.
Zhou Guanyu, Sauber (SP20, P17): 5/10
We're giving Zhou Guanyu an extra half mark over Fernando Alonso for finishing ahead of him in a clearly inferior car. Of course, a major reason for that is the ten second penalty that Alonso got for driving into the back of the Sauber on lap 22. If not for that then Zhou would surely have been the penultimate car across the line on Sunday having started from pit lane after the team made changes to his car in parc ferme after qualifying. Otherwise, though, the stats make grim reading for Zhou: last in Sprint Qualifying, last in the Sprint, last in qualifying for the Grand Prix. The one little bit of light was that he was ahead of his fellow Sauber sufferer Valtteri Bottas in the first and only practice session on Friday, but his bump start from Alonso in the race meant there was no prospect of a repeat of that on Sunday.
