Lewis Hamilton (SP7, P4, Fastest lap, 15 pts): 8.5/10
Lewis Hamilton had the benefit of a low downforce setting on the Mercedes this weekend, which proved to be the right call for this circuit and in these unpredictable, fluctuating conditions. He was fourth fastest in qualifying which meant he started the race from third after Max Verstappen's gearbox penalty was applied. But before that was the small matter of the Sprint, for which he started from seventh but benefitted from stopping for intermediates on the first green flag of the race after the rolling start behind the safety car. His main focus was battling with Sergio Perez over fourth place, and the pair eventually made contact inflicting terminal damage to the Red Bull's sidepod. Hamilton dismissed it as a racing incident and boss Toto Wolff agreed, but the stewards didn't. A five second post-race penalty demoted him from fourth to seventh, which he shrugged off since it was only a Sprint and therefore not much to play for. Sunday's Grand Prix was a largely untroubled affair by comparison - he was soon ejected from any chance of a podium when Max Verstappen blasted past on lap 6. But Hamilton had a measure of revenge when he sneaked onto a new set of medium tyres at the end, allowing him to grab the bonus point for fastest lap that Max had been angling for all afternoon.
Charles Leclerc (SP5, P3, 19 pts): 8.5/10
It was a decent week for Charles Leclerc, although he was the first to admit afterwards that it showed just how much work Ferrari still had to do to have a chance of beating their Red Bull rivals at any point this season. In qualifying, Verstappen was a mighty eight tenths quicker than Leclerc and the rest of the field. Even though Leclerc picked up pole thanks to Verstappen's five place grid penalty for a new gearbox, no one had any doubt that Leclerc's spell at the front would be short-lived. Sure enough Sergio Perez thundered past in the first run through Les Combes, and Verstappen cruised past on lap 9 and quickly disappeared into the distance. Leclerc was left to make sure he stayed on the podium ahead of Lewis Hamilton. As a whole it was a satisfying way to go into the summer break, and better than his Saturday experience where the Ferrari priority on pit stops at the start had gone to Carlos Sainz meaning Leclerc had to wait until the second green flag lap to come in, where he suffered a slow service on top that dropped him behind Sainz.
