George Russell, Mercedes (Fastest lap, P8, 5 pts): 7/10
This weekend will have been a flashback to George Russell's early days with Williams scrabbling with cars at the back of the grid. The reason for this was the qualifying debacle for which responsibly lay equally with the driver (for not pulling off the optimum lap when the opportunity presented itself in changeable weather) and with Mercedes (for mistiming when they chose to send him out for his final Q3 run, and not fuelling him enough to say out for an additional lap as conditions dried up.) Russell started the race on hard tyres aiming for a long first stint in an attempt to make the most of the compromised situation. Getting into the points was as good as it was going to get for the Briton whose strategy saw him finish behind the similarly compromised Sergio Perez.
Sergio Perez, Red Bull (P7, 6 pts): 6.5/10
Sunday produced a good drive from Sergio Perez, but there's no getting around yet another miserable performance in qualifying in which he pushed too hard and spun into the barrier during the first round. That left him lining up in 16th place, and while Perez certainly has form in pulling off fantastic recovery drives in the past, there was very little opportunity to achieve any such miracles in Budapest. He and George Russell were in similar situations, and while Russell got the early jump on lap 1 it was the Red Bull who pulled off the undercut after both ran long first stints on hard tyres. Perez maintained the advantage to the finish, but both he and Russell were almost 20s behind Carlos Sainz in P6 meaning that this was the very best they could do on the day.
