Max Verstappen (Pole, P2, 26 pts): 9/10
This was a strange weekend for Max Verstappen and for Red Bull as a whole. He was quickest in practice and cantered to the Sprint pole and race win despite complaining about a lack of grip. Of course we're used to him saying everything in the garden is terrible before then punching in another unbeatable performance when it really matters, but this time Verstappen seemed genuinely distracted and worried, almost unable to believe that no one else was taking advantage of the situation to beat him. But on Sunday, someone could and did, and it was a man in papaya who managed it. Having failed to pull away from the field in the opening stint of the Grand Prix and then pitting early, Verstappen found himself behind Norris at the safety car restart. Normally that would be no problem - the Red Bull would push past and sail off into the distance. But this time it was Lando Norris who went into warp, and for once it was Verstappen who was reminded of what it felt like to be second best.
Lando Norris (P1, 25 pts): 10/10
We tried, but they won't allow us to award Lando Norris 11 out of 10 for his first Formula 1 race victory. Actually, if we were being pedantic (don't say anything) and since this rating covers the whole of the weekend, Norris did not have the sort of perfect weekend usually required to justify a perfect ten. But he looked strong from the start, was unfortunate to suffer oversteer in Sprint qualifying that left him in a grid position vulnerable to be taken out in the midfield crush at the start of the race, and bounced back from that accident to take fifth place on the Grand Prix grid. Unlike his McLaren team mate Oscar Piastri he didn't get a flying start, but hunkered down for a long 29-lap first stint. He got lucky with the timing of the safety car at that point, and his drive from the restart onwards was the sort of thing that drivers dream about. By the time he got to the finish he must have been worried that his engine had died because it was impossible to hear it over the fans going absolutely berserk celebrating the latest addition to the pantheon of F1 race winners. And quite a few rival teams and drivers were joining in, too.
