Max Verstappen, Red Bull (P4): 8/10
The Monaco Grand Prix is won on a Saturday, and this fact meant Verstappen was resigned to a subpar result (by his standards) after a mistake on his final qualifying run. His frustrations grew during the race as he was unable to find his way past a slow-going Piastri for much of the race. He held the lead for a number of laps on two separate occasions, extending his stints in the hope that a red flag or Safety Car would grant him a free pitstop. However this never happened, so Verstappen came into the pits on the very last lap to finish where he started, in fourth place.
Oscar Piastri, McLaren (P3): 8/10
For the first time in a long while, Piastri was a step behind Norris all weekend. It started with a scruffy qualifying session, where he made a mistake in the second sector which may have cost him pole. Starting in third, the Australian knew that his chances of getting past Leclerc or Norris ahead of him were slim, but a 3.8-second pitstop and a clash with the barriers at Sainte Devote threatened to lose him a position to a fast-charging Verstappen directly behind. A late-stopping Verstappen and traffic allowed Piastri to close in on the leaders, but there was no way he was getting past on the tight street circuit.
