Charles Leclerc (P16): 6.5/10
After back to back pole positions and a run of five consecutive top six finishes (excepting Monaco where he wasn't able to take the start) it looked like Charles Leclerc and Ferrari were on the rise and back in form. In which case Le Castellet was a rude awakening for all at Maranello, because this was a shocking weekend for the team and Leclerc in particular. He was out of the top ten in two of the three practice sessions, but managed to make it safely into the final round of qualifying even if seventh on the grid was some way off his recent achievements. For the first 13 laps all seemed to be going reasonably according to plan and he was able to hold position behind Pierre Gasly and ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris. Then the tyres simply seemed to drop off a cliff, necessitating an early pit stop that dropped him back to 18th. Worse still, this left him too far to make it to the finish without a second stop on lap 38. The result left him as the unhappy filling in an Alfa Romeo sandwich and the Monegasque's worst finish since he moved to Ferrari.
Antonio Giovinazzi (P15): 6.5/10
Finishing in the points was always going to be difficult for Antonio Giovinazzi in a race without retirements or safety cars to benefit from, but there were still some positive things for the Italian to take away from Le Castellet. He was quicker than his world champion team mate in two of the practice sessions and successfully made it through to the second round of qualifying while Kimi Raikkonen fell at the first hurdle. However a successful start for the Finn meant that Giovinazzi found his mirrors full of the second Alfa for much of the first half of the race, with the pair both starting on hard tyres and running long (strange that the team didn't at least try a split strategy between their drivers). Giovinazzi came in five laps earlier than his colleague and this proved to be the correct call in the end, giving him a two place advantage over Raikkonen that persisted all the way to the finish. In the circumstances it was probably the best that the team could manage on Sunday on that strategy.
