Charles Leclerc (P4, 12 pts): 8.5/10
Ferrari hadn't been expecting to be stronger than McLaren this weekend, so fourth place for Charles Leclerc ahead of Daniel Ricciardo is a very good outcome for the Scuderia. The Monegasque had been fourth in the very first session of the weekend, but that had been presumed to be something of a fluke and sure enough he slowly fell backwards down the order in FP2 and FP3 to the point where even a spot in the final round of qualifying looked to be at risk. But in fact he breezed through to Q3 with ease and ended up two tenths quicker than his team mate Lando Norris, putting him on the grid in his now familiar fourth place. That's where he remained for all but four laps on Sunday afternoon, the only blips coming when he was slightly later making his pit stops than those in front. It ended up being a rather quiet and lonely run and he crossed the line ten seconds behind Sergio Perez and almost 25 seconds ahead of Ricciardo, but that seeming 'ease' had come at the cost of a lot of hard work and skill to get him into that position. "It was definitely one of the most physical drives of my career. The rear was moving quite a lot and temperatures were high throughout," he said. "I don't think that I left much on the table today and I really pushed the car to its limit on every lap."
Sergio Perez (P3, 15 pts): 9/10
A second consecutive podium for Sergio Perez and arguably one of his strongest all-round performances since joining Red Bull, even taking into account his win for the team at Baku. Up to now his Achilles heel has been his poor straight line speed compared to Max Verstappen and how long it takes him to dial into a circuit, and FP1 was typical in this regard when he opened his account a full second slower than his team mate. But the tables were well and truly turned in FP2 and FP3 when he was faster than anyone, even showing a clean pair of heels to the Dutch driver. When it came to qualifying he was only two tenths off Verstappen, and his placement on the grid in third could hardly have been better as it gave Red Bull a crucial strategic advantage over Lewis Hamilton who was outnumbered and surrounded. Sure enough, even when the Mercedes succeeded in taking the lead early in the race, Perez was able to play a strategic role in forcing Mercedes' hand in the timing of the first round of pit stops. Arguably without Perez playing his part this weekend, Verstappen could have ended up in second place at the chequered flag. And of course, Perez himself won't be unhappy with third despite it coming at considerable personal cost: "The hardest and longest race of my life," he said. "I wasn't feeling great before the race and then my drinks system stopped working on the first lap. With the hot weather today it was very physical and a pretty tough afternoon. I was struggling massively and by lap 20 I was done, so it was a shame I couldn't keep up with Max and Lewis."
