Charles Leclerc (Pole, P4, 12 pts): 9/10
You could see it in his eyes: Charles Leclerc wanted nothing more in the world than to dispense with talk of his Monaco 'curse' this weekend, and win his iconic home Grand Prix for the first time. The Ferrari driver was laser focused on the task, edging Carlos Sainz and then Sergio Perez for the top of the timesheets on Friday. He was denied a second weekend of clean sweeps by Perez in FP3 but there was no stopping him in qualifying: the Monegasque was a man on a mission. Despite the rain and the rolling start behind the safety car, things initially went to plan in the race. Stopping for inters on lap 17 seemed like the sensible choice even if Sainz disagreed. But then there was the spectacular strategic stumble by the team on lap 21, and suddenly Leclerc found himself down in fourth behind not only Sainz but the two Red Bulls. Told there was no more rain expected after the red flag restart, Leclerc had to accept the bitter truth that a win (and even a podium) was no longer within reach. He wasn't happy.
Max Verstappen (P3, 15 pts): 7.5/10
Max Verstappen might still be leading the drivers championship, but it's been a bit of an up-and-down season for the reigning champion. His early races were compromised by technical reliability issues on the Red Bull, but then he hit his stride and appeared unstoppable. However the last couple of of weekends he's seemed to go off the boil somewhat, and he was really struggling to dial himself into the Monaco track throughout Friday and Saturday. He was solidly fourth in every session, and more worryingly four tenths off the pace setter in both FP2 and FP3 - a most unusual deficit for Max these days. More than that, he was comprehensively second best to his team mate Sergio Perez. When was the last time it's been possible to say that about the Dutch superstar? A botched pit stop strategy by Ferrari gifted him an extra spot and a podium in the race, and crucially extended his points lead over Charles Leclerc, but no amount of team orders this week could help continue Verstappen's run of race wins.
