F1i's Driver Ratings for the 2021 French GP

Daniel Ricciardo (P6, 8 pts): 8/10
Daniel Ricciardo matched his best result for McLaren again this weekend, but more importantly he was looking more like his old self as he had fun battling with those around him, gaining positions and proving that he still more than has what it takes. He'd been in the top ten in two of the three practice sessions and it was no surprise when he made it into the final round of qualifying on Saturday afternoon. If he was unhappy with being outdone by his team mate, he soon put that to rights by getting the jump on a slow-starting Lando Norris at the start of the race, which didn't go down all that well with the younger man. Team harmony was restored later in the race after the pit stops, when Ricciardo allowed Norris on fresher tyres past him on lap 33, and the pair seemed to be working well together as they improved through the order to finish in the top six and restore McLaren's lead over Ferrari in the constructors championship.

Lando Norris (P5, 10 pts): 8.5/10
Although he started the weekend behind his McLaren team mate in first practice, Lando Norris held the upper hand after that right through into qualifying which saw him two places higher on the grid than Daniel Ricciardo. Unfortunately for the Briton that was reversed at the start of Sunday's race: "I had a bad shift to second or third gear and I lost quite a few positions," he lamented after dropping behind Ricciardo and Fernando Alonso. He was able to get the position back from Alonso on lap 11, and then stayed out on his initial set of medium tyres to lap 24 after which he was able to use his new set of the hard compound to pick off the likes or Raikkonen, Leclerc, Gasly and Sainz. Ricciardo didn't get in his way when the time came for them to trade places, and after that Norris settled back into fifth behind Sergio Perez (and latterly Valtteri Bottas) where he remained for the rest of the afternoon, bringing home the points that helped put McLaren back into third place in the constructors standings. Really rather satisfying all round.