Sergio Perez (Pole, P2, 18 pts): 8.5/10
Sergio Perez was dominant in Baku and duly crowned king of the street circuits, so Miami International Autodrome should have been catnip to the Mexican driver - but it didn't turn out that way. There were early warning signs in first practice when he was down in 11th but normality resumed in FP2 (fourth) and FP3 (third). He was still trailing behind Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc, and said himself that up to this point it had been his worst weekend of the season to date. And then he emerged from qualifying with pole position, thanks to some luck with the timing of the red flag in Q3 for Charles Leclerc's crash that prevented Verstappen from setting a time. It gave Perez an eight place advantage on the grid over Verstappen in the race, and yet at the same time there was a horrible feeling that this wouldn't be nearly enough to prevent the reigning world champion from claiming victory regardless. And so it proved to be, a below-par first stint for Perez on mediums proving fatal to his hopes of pulling out a big enough margin to hold off Verstappen once the pit stops cycled through. If he'd won the race, Perez could well have been in the lead of the drivers standings today; instead he finds himself 14 points adrift. It's not much in the grand scheme of things, so why does it feel like the championship has just been decided, a mere five races into the 23-race season?
Max Verstappen (P1, Fastest lap, 26 pts): 9.5/10
If we were giving a rating for race day alone there would be no question that Max Verstappen would score ten out of ten. It was a remarkable performance from the reigning champion, who carved his way through the field to take the lead of the race with no great apparent effort, dispatching one top-rated driver after another with clinical - one may even say contemptuous - ease. There was little doubt from very early on that starting from ninth place on the grid wasn't going to stop him from claiming an emphatic victory. But our ratings cover the whole weekend, and we have to knock off half a point for that slip-up in the final round of qualifying: aborting his initial run left him without a time, and then leaving it until the end of the session to make a second attempt made him vulnerable to an ill-timed red flag, which is exactly what happened. Even so there was never any great sense of panic about what Verstappen could do on Sunday, he just got on and did it. Magnificently.
