Kevin Magnussen, Haas (P10, 1 pt): 6.5/10
If you're going to incur a one race ban then you may as well have some fun in the process. Ironically, given the consequences, Kevin Magnussen did have an enjoyable time at Monza. He stuck close to his Haas team mate Nico Hulkenberg during practice, although he missed the second cut in qualifying while Hulkenberg went on to make the final round. Ironically that backfired on the German driver in the race when he clashed with Daniel Ricciardo and was forced to pit prematurely. Meanwhile Magnussen flourished from P13 on the grid and was in the top ten before he made his first pit stop on lap 14. That left him facing a 40 lap stint on a set of the hard compound, the same trick Charles Leclerc pulled off to take victory. A mid-race clash with Pierre Gasly where he seemed to use the Alpine as a braking aid earned him a ten second penalty that cost him a place in the final classification but he's done enough to earn a point. Unfortunately it had also put him over the top in terms of penalty points meaning Magnussen won't be at Azerbaijan in two weeks time. Realistically it was bound to happen at some point and it's probably a relief to take the hit now, put his feet up and watch Baku on TV, and return to action in Singapore.
Alexander Albon, Williams (P9, 2 pts): 8/10
Alex Albon appeared genuinely sad to see Logan Sargeant get dropped by Williams at the start of the week (he knows what they feels like), although we doubt it was any more of a surprise to him than it was to literally everyone else in the paddock. Even Sargeant had known the axe was coming for some weeks. The surprise was to find that his new neighbour in the garage was Franco Colapinto, but Albon might enjoy the chance to be not just team leader but a driver mentor for the remainder of the season. Certainly all the changes at Grove didn't seem to distract Albon this week: he was in the top ten in FP1 and FP3 and it would have been a surprise had he failed to make the final round of qualifying on Saturday. Starting from ninth and running the first 17 laps on the medium compound before switching to hard tyres for the rest of the afternoon, the one-stop strategy put him back in the top ten. He was just able to stay ahead of Fernando Alonso in the closing laps and he was just close enough to to benefit from Kevin Magnussen's post-race penalty for colliding with Pierre Gasly to he promoted to a well earned P9.
