Pierre Gasly, Alpine (SP12, P10, 1 pt): 7.5/10
After struggling at the start of the year, Pierre Gasly is now looking somewhat back to his former self, encouraged by an improving Alpine and the knowledge that he has a new contract in hand, while his arch-frenemy Esteban Ocon is heading to the exit and is not at all happy about it. That's contributing to increasing friction between the pair, as seen in both races this weekend where they found themselves in close proximity on track and fighting each other to the exclusion of other considerations such as working together for the benefit of the team. In the main race, Gasly had a point: he was clearly the faster of the pair by then, having taken longer to get up to speed over the weekend. But Ocon wasn't willing to let him pass so Gasly was obliged to successfully force his hand. It meant Gasly finished in the points for the fourth race in succession having gone the first seven rounds without reward. He looks like he's enjoying life a lot more now.
Daniel Ricciardo, RB (SP14, P9, 2 pts): 7.5/10
A bizarre underperformance by the veteran Aussie at the start of the season had us scratching our heads, but this is a Daniel Ricciardo that we recognise. It took him a bit of time to warm up in Spielberg and he was consistently 16th in practice and in Sprint qualifying and the race, trailing behind Yuki Tsunoda in each case. But the tables turned when it came to the main qualifying session on Saturday afternoon: he came close to making the final cut and was three places ahead of Tsunoda on the grid, not bad at all given RB's recent underwhelming performances during a mid-season slump. He managed to convert this into a points finish with a calm and assured drive on Sunday, the fourth time he has beaten Tsunoda this season. It's nice to see the familiar high beam smile blasting away in the paddock again, it's been too long.
