Guanyu Zhou (P10, 1 pt): 7.5/10
Welcome to Formula 1, Guanyu Zhou! There had been a lot of barbed comments about China's first Grand Prix driver being there just because of the money he was able to bring with him, but his debut in Bahrain should put paid to that sort of thing at least for the time being. It was a very accomplished first outing, with a confident P11 in his first official free practice session. Although he succeeded in avoiding the cut at the end of the first round of qualifying, Zhou was just 15th on the grid and suffered at the start which saw him drop four places. But he didn't lose his head, and instead put the much-improved Alfa Romeo to good use as he marched through the lower ranks with passes on Nicholas Latifi, Lance Stroll, Nico Hulkenberg, Mick Schumacher and Alex Albon - and even McLaren's Lando Norris. By the time he pitted on lap 15 he had briefly encroached into the top ten. He then continued to plug away in the second stint but was still only 13th when the safety car came out for Pierre Gasly's car fire. Zhou quickly dispatched Schumacher again at the restart, tucked into Fernando Alonso's tyre marks and gained from the Red Bull meltdown to earn a shiny championship point at his very first try. Nice work!
Fernando Alonso (P9, 2 pts): 7/10
From one of the youngest drivers on the grid, to the oldest: not that age seems to have dimmed Fernando Alonso's skill behind the wheel of his hunger for results. He spent Friday's practice sessions in the top ten, quicker than his young team mate Esteban Ocon, and in qualifying he made it through to the final top ten pole shoot-out and picked up eighth on the grid while Ocon missed the cut. However the race itself proved to be very hard work for the two-time world champion as he was forced to defend hard in the opening laps and didn't much like the medium tyres he was given for the second stint. By the time the safety car came out for Pierre Gasly's retirement he was out of the points in 12th. He quickly passed Mick Schumacher at the restart but was then pinned behind Yuki Tsunoda for the final laps, and it was only the demise of the Red Bulls that meant he was handed two points for all his labours.
