Carlos Sainz (P10, 1 pt): 7/10
Returning to the scene of his maiden pole and Grand Prix victory this time a year ago, Carlos Sainz found it distinctly harder this time around. It looked promising enough on Friday - Sainz was second quickest behind Max Verstappen in FP2 - and he was sixth when the rain interrupted final practice on Saturday. It was a moderately successful qualifying for Ferrari, with both cars through to the final round although ultimately trumped by the suddenly up-to-speed McLaren drivers, leaving Sainz starting from fifth behind his team mate. He lost out to George Russell at the start, but in Sainz' defence the Mercedes was the only car in the top ten gambling on starting on the quicker soft compound. Sainz would surely have his revenge when Russell was forced to stop early. Except that's not what happened - Russell went 28 laps before pitting while Sainz gave up on his mediums two laps earlier. That meant he had to run the rest of the race on the hard compound, which were a handful. Shortly after the safety car restart, Sainz came under pressure from the recovering Sergio Perez, and in prising his way past the Red Bull opened the door for Alex Albon, Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly to follow him through. It was a painful few corners for Sainz. Gasly retired shortly after, and with no pressure from Lance Stroll behind Sainz could slot in behind Leclerc and finish just inside the points - but that's arguably the least Ferrari would have been hoping for this week.
Charles Leclerc (P9, 2 pts): 7.5/10
After a solid start to the weekend with fifth place in FP1, Charles Leclerc missed all of second practice with an electronics problem on his Ferrari which undoubtedly put him behind the curve for the rest of the weekend. He did bounce back to top the rain-hit final practice, but the weather meant he was further hampered in his bid for mileage. He nonetheless overcame the problems and made it through to the final round of qualifying later in the day. He ended up fourth on the grid, having been as surprised as the rest of us by the sudden surge in pace from the two McLarens who were ahead of him giving pole sitter Max Verstappen a hard time. There was another surprise on Sunday when he was unable to keep up with the top three, but he was able to contain George Russell on the soft tyres. Assuming the Mercedes would be stopping early, he pulled the pin first and pitted on lap 19 but he had been hung out to dry, with Russell ending up staying out another ten laps. It left him out of position and on the uncooperative hard compound, which he ended up ditching when given the opportunity to pit again during the safety car. It left him stuck in a DRS train behind Alex Albon at the restart, and the Williams proved fleet enough to hold out until the finish line. A sobering wake up call on multiple fronts for Ferrari this weekend.
