F1i's Driver Ratings for the 2022 Brazilian GP

Charles Leclerc (P4, 15 pts): 8.5/10
It was a difficult weekend for Charles Leclerc, and while he came out of it with a decent result he was frustrated not to make it onto the podium on Sunday. He started the weekend just four thousandths of a second behind Sergio Perez in first practice (and ahead of Max Verstappen by the same amount) but things went awry in the final round of qualifying where for some unfathomable reason he was sent out on intermediate tyres while everyone else had last one chance of running slicks before the rain picked up. As a result he lacked any sort of pace and pitted, but by then the track was too wet for any more laps leaving Leclerc stuck in tenth place on the grid for the sprint. He picked up four places in that to start the Grand Prix from sixth, but that left him starting alongside Lando Norris and the pair collided when the race resumed following the initial safety car. Leclerc was sent flying into the barrier and it's frankly a mystery to us how the Ferrari was in any sort of state to continue let alone march his way back to sixth by the time the second safety car was scrambled. At the restart he quickly passed Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez to find himself team mate Carlos Sainz. With an eye to the championship position - he's tied on points in the drivers standings with Red Bull's Sergio Perez - he pleaded with the Ferrari pit wall to be allowed to pass his team mate, but the powers that be turned him down flat in no uncertain terms saying it was too risky. Time will tell whether that's one more costly miscall by the team.

Carlos Sainz (P3, 22 pts): 9/10
Carlos Sainz might only have been fourth quickest in first practice, but that was still ahead of both Mercedes drivers. In qualifying he was second in Q2 and looked a strong contender for pole position, until the wet weather rolled in - before he could make the most of the slick tyres, and never got a second chance. No matter, he was able to undo the damage in the sprint race where he finished in second place behind George Russell. However he didn't start the Grand Prix on the front row, as a five place grid drop dropped him back down to P7 for lights out on Sunday. He took advantage of the mayhem around him to move up to third place after the first safety car restart, and he looked on course to challenge Russell for victory. Unfortunately an errant tear-off wrapped itself around his rear brakes forcing him to pit earlier than planned so that a brave engineer could remove it, no easy feat with the brakes now on fire. Fortunately the fire went out when he got moving again, but it had cost him time and he was now in 11th and off-strategy. On the plus side, his pace was such that he was soon back in the top four, and he took the opportunity of a second safety car to make a 'free' stop on lap 53. The fresh tyres allowed him to pass Perez on lap 63 for a podium place. He was unaware of the discussions going on between his team mate Charles Leclerc and the Ferrari pit wall about imposing team orders, and it's just as well - Sainz might have developed sudden comms problems if he had thought it a possibility.