Charles Leclerc (P6, 8 pts): 7/10
It's been a rough spell for Charles Leclerc who has developed something of an all-or-nothing, do-or-die reputation when it comes to key sessions, which has detrimentally impacted his championship ambitions. There was a pressure of a different kind on him this week, with a burning desire for the Monegasque to win his first home Grand Prix; but for most of practice it looked like his team mate Carlos Sainz was the stronger of the two on the familiar streets of the principality. Leclerc finally had the upper hand in qualifying where he finished third fastest in the final round, only to have that taken away by a grid penalty for blocking Lando Norris in the tunnel which dropped him to P6 - back behind Sainz. There was little opportunity to make any progress from there during the race, although the mix of pit stop strategies saw him up to third before he himself came in on lap 44. The team failed to foresee the impact of the impending rain, and after waiting on a safety car that never came he and Sainz were belatedly summoned in on lap 55 and double-stacked for the inevitable shift to intermediates. It's another Ferrari pit wall strategy call that will doubtless be forensically dissected by critical fans and fanatical critics alike. Sainz had slid off at Mirabeau but George Russell has played a better strategy card, and the net result of these two moves was that Leclerc finished the race where he had started in sixth.
George Russell (P5, 10 pts): 7.5/10
The interesting point of the weekend for George Russell was in the closing laps on Sunday, with the rain falling and tyre strategies playing out left, right and centre. He was fortunate to have started on hard tyres and to not have have pitted by the time he was among the first drivers to report back to pit lane that the rain they had said not to worry about, now needed to be worried about. He made his one and only stop on lap 54, trading up to inters and appealing to the team to apply team orders to Lewis Hamilton to let Russell pass so he could attack Esteban Ocon for a shot at the podium. Hamilton of course didn't like the idea. And in any case, by now Russell had already made a major mistake by going off at Massenet and making contact with Sergio Perez. Aware that he had a five second penalty to deal with, the podium was no longer an option and he rapidly rolled back on his request to be allowed past Hamilton in order to make sure that he looked like a solid team player and not just out for himself. We'll forgive Hamilton if he had a little satisfied smirk on face hearing that. Whatever, Russell showed not only his racing skill but also his hard-headed tactical awareness and ruthlessness when it came to dealing with other drivers - including his team mate when called for. And if not for that slide, it really might all have paid off with a podium.
