Fernando Alonso (P2, 18 pts): 9.5/10
Aston Martin owner Lawrence Stroll might have been a little hyperactive when he forecast a double podium for his drivers in Canada, but at least Fernando Alonso didn't let his boss down with a very strong performance throughout the weekend. He was in the top four in all three practice sessions, and carried on in the same vein in qualifying. He was somewhat miffed to be pipped to the front row by Nico Hulkenberg when just four seconds more before the Q3 red flag would have seen him go P2. The stewards stepped in with a penalty for the Haas that promoted Alonso to second, but he might have wished it hadn't: it left him on the 'dirty' side of the grid for Sunday's start, and he was quickly overtaken by Lewis Hamilton in the run down to the first corner. It was soon clear that the Aston was quicker than the Mercedes, but Alonso is old enough and wise enough to know when to hold back, and when to pounce, so it wasn't until lap 22 that he took the place back with the help of DRS. After that he just made sure to counter any moves Hamilton made, while watching Max Verstappen disappear off into the distance ahead. It was in every sense the best and all he could do this week.
Max Verstappen (Pole, P1, 25 pts): 9.5/10
Max Verstappen is making it look so easy at the moment, it's reminding us of the old Bond theme Nobody Does It Better - in particular the lyric "makes you feel sad for the rest". He insisted afterwards that his Senna-equalling 41st career victory hasn't been easy or straightforward, but that's certainly how it looked to the rest of us watching Sunday's race. How can he be so much quicker than anyone else, even multiple world champions like Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton? It's not simply the car, impressive though the RB19 is, as another subdued weekend for Sergio Perez demonstrated. But by his own standards this wasn't a particularly outstanding weekend - he had problems with rear grip on Friday that left him slightly adrift at the end of Friday's disrupted practice, and complained about rear grip after moving to the hard compound on Sunday. But there were few other problems for him to contend with, and he wasn't called upon to perform any heroics running at the front. By any objective standards, this was about the calmest win you'll see all year. We wonder if Max listens to audiobooks to help him cill out when he's not on the radio to his race engineer?
