Lance Stroll (P12): 6/10
The weekend started off brightly enough for Lance Stroll, with the Aston Martin sixth in opening practice on Friday afternoon. But by the evening he had slipped to 16th, and in qualifying the following day he not only missed out on getting through to the second round of qualifying but also proved slower than Nico Hulkenberg, the last minute replacement driver who hadn't even sat in the car before this weekend. The race proved somewhat better for him, with a gain of two places at the start and then a steady rise through the ranks during the first stint putting him up to tenth by the time he made his first stop on lap 15. After that, making progress became tougher and he hit a glass ceiling running in 14th, although the double retirements of the Red Bulls meant he actually finished in 12th which was a tad generous. More importantly for his career prospects, by this point he was well ahead of Hulkenberg.
Mick Schumacher (P11): 7.5/10
Haas' unexpectedly strong form in pre-season testing raised quite a few eyebrows, but there was a feeling that this optimism would quickly fade once it got to the first race weekend (see for context: McLaren). But actually, what Mick Schumacher (and especially his new team mate Kevin Magnussen) proved this week in Bahrain was that the VF-22 has some serious life in it, and is certainly a huge leap forward from last year's dead donkey. After a quiet time in FP1, Schumacher was in the top ten in the evening practice and the following day came within a whisker of making it through to the final round of qualifying. Starting from 12th, he was tipped into a spin by Alpine's Esteban Ocon which inevitably put him on the back foot, but by the time the safety car came out he was finally in the top ten. Not stopping for fresh tyres at this point proved costly and even with the exit of the two Red Bulls he just missed out on getting points, but it had been worth a gamble. Possibly Schumacher's most competitive weekend to date.
