LECLERC’S EXCELLENCE EARNS HIM FULL MARKS
The Ferrari star is our sole top scorer, although race-winner Hamilton and Mclaren’s battler Ricciardo just miss out by a whisker
9 Very close to a maximum score, but just misses out because of his hesitation in not closing off Verstappen’s run to the inside at Turn 1. Was excellent from there, harrying Verstappen while keeping his tyres alive in his first stint, then executing the perfect chase in his third.
4 Scored down for qualifying behind his teammate and Gasly’s slower Alphatauri, but did at least win their long tussle on lap one. Struggled to keep his tyres alive and blamed this particularly on getting caught behind Raikkonen. Even with Aston’s struggles for pace, he should not be losing to an Alfa.
7 Even without the Turn 10 mistake on his fastest Q3 lap, he still wouldn’t have beaten Verstappen, so we’re not penalising him for qualifying behind the Red Bull. His problem was being overtaken by Leclerc on the first lap, which compromised his race massively either side of the safety car.
6 After touching Alonso in their first-lap scrap, he made a great pass after the restart. Comes down on his score for losing out to Gasly’s slower, penalty addled Alphatauri by the finish. Not a lot he could do in the late Turns 1/2 clash with Alonso, and smartly moved to let the Alpine back ahead.
4 While Perez gets sympathy for the shoulder pain he suffered in qualifying, this score reflects the massive gap to Verstappen and what his absence from the lead fight cost Red Bull. Spun needlessly in Q3 and later ended up behind four slower cars. Did make a good start, but just took too long passing Ricciardo.
6 Q3 traffic shenanigans meant he started his sole new softs run with low temperatures, which he said explained the gap to Ocon. Drove well on the tough one-stopper. Just couldn’t avoid a second stop, before which his old tyres contributed to the clash with Stroll.
8 Two minor mistakes add up to cost him here. Delivered his best qualifying lap on the first Q3 runs, then delightfully punchy at the first corner. But as he “called himself in”, in the words of his team boss, he cost himself a second. Then locked up on his outlap and appeared to damage his left front.
8 Beat a faster Ferrari in qualifying, while suspecting a misfire cost time on his final run. Lost a spot to Ricciardo at the start, but from there drove well on the difficult onestopper. Was the lead one-stopper home, showing excellent tyre management skills to hang onto ninth.
9 An excellent weekend at a track where Ferrari was faster than Mclaren. Just falls short of a maximum because of his part in missing the Q3 cutoff for a final lap. In the race he made a strong start, then had to spend most of his time defending against Perez and then Sainz. 10
Earns the maximum, despite not delivering his best sectors on his fastest Q3 lap, for two reasons. One, he still took fourth and beat a Red Bull; and two, because of his incredible first-lap pass on Bottas at Turn 3. Then managed his pace on softs and mediums excellently.
6 Was unlucky that the Mazepin Q1 incident cost him an extra set of softs, but did damage his car going wide at Campsa on his first Q3 run on old tyres. Charged well to beat Ocon late on, but is also marked down for late defence against Sainz, for which he was rightly shown the black-and-white flag.
6 The main issue was qualifying behind Ocon’s slower Alpine. Then a slower start than Ricciardo’s meant he was boxed in behind the Alpine at Turn 1, and he lost out to Perez too as a result. From there he charged hard, but Saturday/ start combo meant he came home behind a slower Mclaren.
7 Earns an extra point because of his excellent recovery drive, but made life so much harder for himself with the penalty for overshooting his grid box. The additional penalty time at his stop meant he had to battle back from last, but did rise the order well and put in some good late passes.
5 Even though his team felt his defeat to Schumacher in qualifying was down to the rookie’s improved performance better reflecting where his car can reach, the pace difference to the Haas is still significant and so his score reflects being beaten to 18th in qualifying.
4 This score is all about his underperformance in qualifying, given a loss of fuel pressure suddenly stopped his race after just six laps. Was furious to be edged out of Q1 by 0.007s, which was followed by some unwise comments about his AT02 that he then apologised for.
8 Did very well to get out of Q1 again, which Williams thought would be difficult. Stopping under the safety car put him onto an effective one-stopper and he tracked Alonso who was trying a real one. Hung on to the top 10’s fringes before the pack with fresher tyres ate him up.
6 He had work to do to recover his score after qualifying – he was so far adrift of Giovinazzi in Q1 that he was lucky not to be outqualified by Schumacher’s Haas. Was brilliant on the one-stopper after a strong first lap. Also showed very well mixing it with faster cars late on.
8 A case of what might have been. Beat Russell nicely in qualifying and was so much faster than his team-mate. Lost ground at the start, then had the safety car pitstop disaster. Then confusion over following the safety car delta. Recovered a reasonable result with two long final stints.
4 Several factors lead to this score on a weekend where he picked up another penalty. The first was that penalty, for impeding Norris in Q1, which could easily have been avoided. Then there was the 0.69s gap to his team-mate in qualifying, and then the 49.862s between them in the race.
7 Another encouraging performance, particularly with his effort in qualifying to beat Latifi’s Williams. Two errors combine to cost him here: not hooking up his best Q1 sectors when it mattered, otherwise he might have beaten Raikkonen too; and overshooting his pitbox at his first stop.