Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin (P8, 4 pts): 7/10
After the fairy tale start to his time at Aston Martin last year, Fernando Alonso is now back in the trenches during a more challenging spell for the team. He ground his way through practice on Friday where he was slower than his team mate Lance Stroll, but Alonso has the experience to know when it's time to shine and he duly did so in wet qualifying. He was able to get into the final round and secured a top ten spot for the race, which was key to his eventual success. Aston was never going to be able to match the likes of Red Bull, Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari on race pace or straight-line speed, but Alonso's famed situational awareness meant he was right there as best of the rest at the finish line to pick up a healthy montage of points for the team.
Sergio Perez, Red Bull (Fastest Lap, P7, 6 pts): 6.5/10
Sergio Perez' primary role at Red Bull is to be there to pick things up should anything happen to Max Verstappen. On Saturday that's exactly what he did by securing a front row spot when Verstappen was handed a ten place grid penalty for taking a new engine. Arguably he should have been able to beat Charles Leclerc for pole, and half a second was a long gap to Verstappen, but it seemed enough to settle once and for all any question that he might be replaced over the summer. But just 24 hours later it was a live issue again after what the Mexican himself dubbed "a really bad race". It certainly began badly enough when he was forced aside by Lewis Hamilton at La Source, but it was the way he drifted backwards during the rest of the race that is of particular concern. Not bad enough to be immediately locked out of the Red Bull motorhome, but enough that there will be some serious team discussions over the break. A late pit stop for softs to nab the bonus point for fastest lap will be largely irrelevant to those talks; it was literally the least he could do in the circumstances.
