Charles Leclerc (P4, 12 pts): 9/10
You can understand Charles Leclerc's frustration and emotion after the British Grand Prix, which prompted Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto to come over and reassure him. He'd given his all this week to try and get back on an even footing with his title rival Max Verstappen, only to end up being thwarted and not able to take full advantage of Red Bull's own problems at Silverstone. All credit to Leclerc for his fighting spirit, but at the same time he wasn't quite able to consistently match his team mate Carlos Sainz in practice and always seemed on the backfoot except briefly in FP3. When it came to wet qualifying, Verstappen looked to be on top and Leclerc finally seemed to have the upper hand over Sainz - until the moment it actually mattered, at the end of Q3 when pole was decided. Leclerc suffered front wing damage in a first lap clash with Sergio Perez when the race got underway a second time on Sunday, but it didn't seem to adversely affect his pace and he was soon demanding Sainz speed up or get out of the way and let him take the lead. On a longer first stint than the Spaniard, he took the lead for the first time on lap 21 but lost out when Sainz gained a 'free' stop under the safety car allowing him to take the restart on lap 43 on fresher tyres. Having blundered by overthinking things and splitting strategies by keeping Leclerc out, Ferrari tried to get Sainz to hold back but Sainz was having none of it and blasted past. The way that Leclerc subsequently lost out to Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton proved Sainz had been right not to want to hang around.
©Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton (Fastest Lap, P3, 16 pts): 9/10
More than any other race on the calendar, the British Grand Prix means the world to Lewis Hamilton and he was desperate to do well in front of his adoring legion of home fans. Buoyed by his podium last time out in Montreal, and armed with a load of new upgrades on the W13 that seemed to be winning the battle with their arch nemesis porpoising, Hamilton certainly looked to be a lot happier at Silverstone. He opened his account with the second quickest time in the wet first practice and repeated the feat in the dry FP2. It gave him hope that a front row start - unthinkable just a few weeks ago - might be within reach, which is why he was so disappointed to be only fifth on the grid even though he would have been happy with that anywhere else at this point in Mercedes' recovery. He got a great start on Sunday only to have it invalidated by the early red flag; he did less well at the restart and lost out to fellow Brit Lando Norris, but quickly repaired the damage and was soon up to third place after the Red Bulls hit problems and dropped back. A 33-lap first stint rewarded him with a spell in the lead, but he pitted six laps too early to fully benefit from the safety car for Esteban Ocon's retirement. After the restart, a new set of soft tyres gave him just enough of an edge to pass Charles Leclerc, but Sergio Perez was there to remind Hamilton and Mercedes as a whole just how much more work they still have to do to get back on a level footing with Red Bull.
