Sergio Perez (P16): 2.5/10
Even after just five races, Sergio Perez was our last, best hope for keeping the 2023 world championship alive and interesting. All he had to do was not screw it up, but do everything he could to remain within touching distance of his Red Bull team mate and runaway points leader Max Verstappen. So what does Checo do this weekend? He massively cocks it up in just about every way imaginable. In the circumstances, his accident at the start of qualifying which wrecked his car and left him starting Sunday's race from the back of the grid was the worst case scenario for his (and our) season. While he's recovered from similar adversity in the past, you can't race your way back into contention on the twisty streets of Monaco. An attempt at strategy by pitting for hard tyres at the end of lap 1 failed to deliver leaving him stuck in a long train of cars and growing increasingly frustrated, resulting in errors and accidents, lock-ups and run-offs galore. He never looked close to making it back into the top ten or scoring points, a huge and potentially terminal blow to his title prospects. At least Christian Horner no longer has to worry about that tricky conversation he's planning with Perez to tell him it's time to just support Verstappen for the rest of the season and forget his own ambitions. And hard though that is, it's only what Perez deserves after this debacle.
Yuki Tsunoda (P15): 6.5/10
Yuki Tsunoda had an exceptionally good qualifying session in Monaco, making it through to the final top ten pole shoot-out round and at one point even ending Q1 second fastest behind Max Verstappen. Unfortunately that was very out of character for the AlphaTauri driver this weekend who otherwise had a very mediocre time in the principality, finishing outside the top ten in all three practice sessions before that. But in Monaco the grid position is everything, and starting from P9 gave him an excellent chance of continuing his recent run of points finishes - just as long as he could just hold his initial position in the processional train of cars. He did that for his first stint after successfully fending off the two McLarens in the opening laps, and timed his pit stop at just the right moment to switch direct to intermediates as the rain started to fall. But the AT04 had been suffering from brake issues and was now virtually undriveable in the wet conditions. Tsunoda dropped six places in the course of three laps, and once the rain abated it was too late to do anything to save the Japanese driver's day.
