Kimi Raikkonen (P8, 4 pts): 7/10
Welcome back Kimi! He's been missing from the grid for the last two races after returning a positive coronavirus test, and maybe the mandatory break has perked him up because this was Raikkonen's best result since the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix, and the points he picked up this weekend have more than doubled Alfa Romeo's 2021 tally at a stroke. Not that you'd have been expecting that given a tepid showing in Friday practice and narrowly missing the cut at the end of the first round of qualifying. Nevertheless the race started brightly with a gain of three places on the opening lap putting him into the top ten, before getting knocked back to 16th after making his scheduled pit stop to exchange medium tyres for a set of the hard stuff on lap 15. He spent most of the afternoon shadowing the Alpine of Esteban Ocon, until he was among the first to react to the arrival of rain and jumped down pit lane for a set of inters. As others struggled, Kimi surged to seventh before missing out to the recovering Lando Norris on the final lap. "In the end, we made the right call on the tyres: I thought it was getting too wet and we chose to box, which really helped us."
Lando Norris (Pole, P7, Fastest lap, 7 pts): 9.5/10
Fourth quickest at the end of Friday, Lando Norris was the star of the show on Saturday when he proved the master of the rapidly changing conditions at Sochi, timing his move to slicks at the perfect moment to emerge with his maiden pole position by over half a second from former team mate Carlos Sainz which made headlines around the world. "It's an amazing feeling to get pole and something I've always dreamed of since I was a kid," he said afterwards, while adding that Sochi was one of the worst places to start at the front as it made him a sitting duck in the run down to the first chicane. Sure enough, Sainz was indeed able to get the jump and take the lead, quickly pulling away. But Norris kept cool and on lap 12 he had caught and blasted past the Ferrari, going on to lead 30 of the 53 laps of the race in an impressive display of talent and maturity. And then it rained, and Norris' determination to stay out on slicks to the bitter end backfired as he spun off, eventually finishing in seventh after crawling back to pit lane for the inevitable set of inters. "Right at the end when the rain started, we made the call not to box and that cost us everything," he said, admitting that it had been his choice. And while we should slash points from our rating for this error, in fact we're going to give Lando extra credit for having the guts to risk everything. Next time it will pay off in victory, we're sure.
