Max Verstappen (P2, 20 pts): 9/10
Max Verstappen did nothing wrong all weekend (well, almost nothing - we'll discuss that little racing incident in a moment). He played Sao Paulo exactly as he should with his eyes on the long prize, doing everything he could to protect his championship lead against Lewis Hamilton and not taking any undue risks that might cost him the title. It was clear from first practice that Mercedes had superior pace, and in qualifying he calmly settled for a P2 start in the sprint and was subsequently promoted to the top after Hamilton's exclusion. While he lost the lead to Valtteri Bottas at the start, he didn't overreact because he knew the real prize was to come on Sunday when he clinically turned the tables on the Finn and cooly assumed the lead. Job done! Except Hamilton was coming, blasting into second here he could put the Dutchman under intolerable pressure. That was the moment for a rare moment of red mist from Verstappen when he swept both cars off the road - if not for Hamilton's reactions it could have been a major accident. But if Max hadn't at least tried, would we have still respected him as a racer the morning after? For all that Verstappen could do the simple truth is that Red Bull simply weren't quite up to the job this week, and that's got to be a concern leading into the all-important final three races of 2021.
Lewis Hamilton (P1, 25 pts): 10/10
We genuinely considered going all Spinal Tap on the ratings this week and turning the volume up to 11 for Lewis Hamilton as a grade for the weekend as a whole, and in particular for that stellar performance on Sunday. Hit by two penalties that were completely out of his control, Hamilton would have been forgiven if he'd thrown his hands up in despair and walked away. But that's simply not the personality of a seven-time world champion, and instead it just seemed to give him extra fuel and determination to overcome the odds and produce arguably one of his best-ever drives in Formula 1. If Hamilton is 'past his peak' as some have been suggesting then it's only because Sao Paulo was indisputably that very 'peak' of his career to date, recalling echoes of his storming performances in junior formulae that led to Ron Dennis trusting him with a seat at McLaren in 2007 in the first place. No one else driving today could have pulled that one off, and overall he didn't put a foot wrong all weekend in the most trying of circumstances. Forget 11, maybe we should be awarding him a 12 or better!
