Sergio Perez (P6, 8 pts): 9/10
Sergio Perez was without doubt one of the stars of the day on Sunday, but wet conditions in qualifying the previous day had left him seriously compromised. The red flag for Antonio Giovinazzi's accident at the end of Q1 had deprived him of the chance to improve his time. As a result he was eliminated at the end of the first round, consigning him to 17th place on the grid. But when it came to the race he was a man inspired, making rapid progress through the order with the sort of speed advantage that had already seen him top the timesheets in FP1. A strong strategy enabled him to level out in fifth place once all the pit stops had been completed, but he then found himself staring at the back of Alexander Albon's Red Bull for the rest of the race. His one attempt to pass resulted in contact which left him with light damage. It cost him time in the closing laps and made him vulnerable to a last corner strike from Lando Norris, and a mere 0.066s from also losing out to Lance Stroll at the line.
Lando Norris (P5, 10 pts): 8.5/10
From the heights of last week's maiden F1 podium position, it was always going to be a tough challenge for Lando Norris to match that sort of performance again this time round. He rather blotted his copybook by incurring a grid penalty for passing cars under yellow flags in Friday's first practice, but that might be excused by the fact that he was in some pain throughout the weekend and was 'drugged up' on painkillers. Starting from ninth on the grid, Norris showed the same early race weakness that we've come to expect from both McLarens, and even after his late pit stop on lap 39 he was merely back to where he'd started. But then with ten laps to go, McLaren asked Carlos Sainz to make way for Norris who was on fresher tyres and for once the use of team orders proved inspired. Norris passed Daniel Ricciardo and Lance Stroll in a single move on the penultimate lap, and then reeled in the ailing Sergio Perez before pulling off a last corner pass to the line. A thrilling finish: while not a podium this time, it was almost as sensational as last week's success.
