Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin (P6, 8 pts): 8/10
One of the fun post-race moments was when the Williams drivers said they had tried to think of a way to outwit Fernando Alonso during the race, since they knew they didn't have the raw pace to beat him. As if it was possible to out-think F1's most experienced driver! He has first-hand in-depth knowledge of just about every scenario possible; if he ever wrote the book on what he knows, the printed volume would exceed the maximum F1 weight limit. While the Aston Martin is still lacking speed (there's a while to go before Adrian Newey gets his hands on the technical levers) Alonso had a solid time progressing through practice and quietly and calmly improved his way to the final shoot-out round in qualifying to line-up in seventh place on the grid. While his team mate Lance Stroll was down in 13th and tangling destructively with Yuki Tsunoda, Alonso planted himself ahead of the two Williams cars and stayed there, rebuffing any bright ideas they might have such as Albon's long first stint on hard tyres. That trick did work for Lando Norris, but not even Alonso can out-think the raw pace of the current McLaren. Eighth was the best that Alonso and Aston could have hoped for in the circumstances; the fact it ended up being P6 was a beautiful bonus. And better still, the youthful Williams pair were still firmly in the rear view mirror.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing (P5, 10 pts): 6.5/10
We're trying to think of the last time we gave Max Verstappen such a low rating but it turns out that our archives no longer retain the original parchment scrolls from that far back. Even though he was fastest in first practice on Friday lending hope that Red Bull's latest upgrades might have turned the tide, after that it was downhill all the way for the world champion. And the biggest shock was that the problems were all Verstappen's, because his team mate Sergio Perez was having his best race in ages (the crunch at the end notwithstanding). For the first time in over three years, Verstappen looked ... Not even ordinary, to be honest. While other drivers like Oscar Piastri and Franco Colapinto were having banner outings, Verstappen was being beaten up by George Russell and Lando Norris. If alarms were going off in Milton Keynes after Monza, we're now into full headless chicken mode coming out of Baku.
