Charles Leclerc (P6, 8 pts): 8/10
A glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel for Ferrari after a dismal few weeks, with Charles Leclerc's best result since his fourth place in the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix at Silverstone. Both Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel were in the top ten at the end of Friday's practice - a rare achievement these days - but Leclerc missed out on making it through to the final round of qualifying in part because of Vettel's crash bringing out an inopportune red flag. A gearbox penalty for Alex Albon meant Leclerc still started in the top ten and with a free choice of tyres to boot - he went for the medium and made them last until lap 29. Gaining two positions at the start with the retirements of Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris, Leclerc made steady progress and found himself in a dizzying second place for two laps as the cars ahead made their pit stops. His own service dropped him back to sixth place where he found himself firmly stuck behind Daniel Ricciardo for the rest of the afternoon, while Esteban Ocon right behind him made it an uncomfortable Renault sandwich for the Monegasque. Fortunately he was up to the task and succeeded in bringing some welcome championship points home to Maranello.
Daniel Ricciardo (P5, 10 pts): 9/10
Another excellent outing for Daniel Ricciardo, whose high beam smile managed to dazzle even from behind a protective face covering. He shone from the start, taking an eye-catching second place in FP1 behind Valtteri Bottas and following that up with third in the afternoon timesheets as well. After that, it was a bit of a disappointment when he fell back to fifth in qualifying, pipped not only by the two Mercedes drivers but also by Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. He got the better of Perez at the start but lost out to his team mate Esteban Ocon, maintaining a net fifth position through to the first round of pit stops which dropped him temporarily out of the top ten. Quickly dispatching Kimi Raikkonen on lap 20, Ricciardo was then given permission to go around Ocon to try his hand at applying pressure to Sebastian Vettel, which he did very effectively on lap 27. He gained another position when Charles Leclerc pitted and came back out between the two Renaults, and Ricciardo spent the rest of the afternoon running behind Perez to finish in fifth place. With such strong performances from the team, Ricciardo's biggest concern right now must be wondering if he wasn't premature in his decision to quit Enstone at the end of the season in preference for a race seat at McLaren. Time will tell...
