Daniel Ricciardo (P6, 8 pts): 8/10
If the events of the opening rounds of 2021 had battered Daniel Ricciardo's confidence in any way, then Spain was just the tonic to put the smile back on the Australian's face. He's finally looking more at home in the McLaren. While he still lagged behind Lando Norris in all three practice sessions it was generally only by small margins, and both drivers breezed through to the final round of qualifying. But while Norris' strategy had been compromised by events in Q1 costing him a crucial set of tyres, Ricciardo had a problem-free run to put him safely into seventh place on the grid for the start of the race. He then picked up two places at the start with passes on Esteban Ocon and the man he'd himself replaced at McLaren, Carlos Sainz. After that, Ricciardo successfully defended the position from Sergio Perez until the first round of pit stops, and even then never dropped out of the points all afternoon. He did lose a net one place to Perez when the Red Bull went for a long middle stint and achieved a comfortable overcut, but otherwise there was very little to trouble Ricciardo all afternoon: "It was a good weekend, I would say the best weekend so far as a whole, and I felt like I got the maximum out of the car."
Sergio Perez (P5, 10 pts): 7/10
Sergio Perez had acquitted himself well in his first outings for Red Bull, but when it came to Spain he seemed to be faltering. He was eight tenths behind team mate Max Verstappen in first practice on Friday and the same again on Saturday, and the gap extended to almost a full second when it came to the final round of qualifying. It's just this sort of mismatch in performance to Max that has led to the exits of Alex Albon, Pierre Gasly and Daniel Kvyat from the Red Bull line-up. But the Mexican isn't one to give up easily, and then it came to the race itself he immediately made up two positions with passes on Esteban Ocon and Carlos Sainz, and he then held on to sixth place for all but six of the first 45 laps on Sunday. However he was thwarted from making further progress by the implacable presence of Daniel Ricciardo ahead. A long second stint on medium tyres finally allowed Perez to get the better of the McLaren and gain a further position by the chequered flag, but by then the long hold-up meant he was never able to play a part in Red Bull's overall race strategy, or help Verstappen get the better of Mercedes who were busy executing a perfect team plan to snatch a famous victory for Lewis Hamilton. That's the difference between the two teams, and the reason why Red Bull need Perez to step up in future.
