Carlos Sainz (P4, 12 pts): 9/10
Carlos Sainz was arguably in better form than his Ferrari team mate this weekend: although Charles Leclerc topped FP1 by 0.077s it was Sainz who was in front in the afternoon. Unfortunately it didn't really matter how fast he was, and even though he finished qualifying in P4 it was in the full and certain knowledge that he would drop to the back of the grid for the start of Sunday's race because of having taken additional power unit elements this weekend. To compensate, he took off like a rocket when the lights went out on Sunday, blazing a path through the field with four places gained in the first two laps alone. It was almost like he was making a statement: anything Verstappen and Red Bull can do at Zandvoort, we can do at Monza! Well, very nearly. He was up to fourth place by lap 13 - a formidable achievement by any standards - putting him just behind Leclerc who had just made his first pit stop before the will-they, won't-they Virtual Safety Car. He was briefly in a podium position when George Russell pitted, but once he made his own stop he found himself wedged between the two Mercedes cars and had to settle for P4 by the time the safety car neutralised the race.
George Russell (P3, 15 pts): 8.5/10
You have to be impressed by George Russell this weekend. The Mercedes is clearly still no match to Red Bull or Ferrari, and yet the Brit is managing to take podium after podium, week after week - this is his fourth in the last five races. He's now threatening to close up on Sergio Perez for third place in the drivers championship, and after that Charles Leclerc is not entirely out of reach for the runners-up spot. And he does it such a calm, matter-of-fact fashion: you can imagine him sitting in the cockpit mentally working on PowerPoint presentations and planning what to have for tea while simultaneously multi-tasking about how to overtake the car in front. Third in free practice but falling back a little in FP2 and FP3, he did what he needed to in qualifying by making it through to the final round in sixth. This was converted to a front row spot alongside Charles Leclerc for the race once grid penalties were worked out. He had a brave go at attacking Leclerc around the outside of turn 1 when the lights went out, but it was always unlikely to be successful. Nor was there anyway of preventing Max Verstappen flying past on lap 5. Although the leaders gradually pulled away from him, Russell made sure that there was no way through for Carlos Sainz, Lewis Hamilton or Sergio Perez from that point on, whatever pressure they applied. Russell was probably already thinking of Singapore by then: next slide, please.
