Carlos Sainz (P13): 7/10
Following Lando Norris' pit stop disaster, the 'other shoe' dropping in in McLaren's black weekend was the way that Carlos Sainz fell back through the order during Sunday afternoon. It was strange to see, given that Sainz had been consistently strong and in the top ten throughout practice. Quicker than Norris in every session, he duly joined his team mate on the fourth row of the grid and was doubtless expecting another good day at the races when the lights went out. Sure enough he gained three places on the lead lap - a pass on Valtteri Bottas and taking advantage of the Hamilton/Verstappen clash - but those places soon ended up being handed back, and once he switched from the soft compound to hard tyres on lap 15 the McLaren just seemed to lose all its pace. Mid-way through the race the team tried pitting him a second time for mediums, but by now it was far too late and any hope of earning crucial championship points had gone. "A bad and frustrating afternoon for the whole team" was Sainz' spot-on summary of how things had turned out.
