Singapore Grand Prix driver ratings

6 NICO ROSBERG
Mercedes F1 W06

Start: 6th
Finish: 4th
Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/soft/soft)

Rating: 6

Rosberg went the wrong way on set-up on Friday, but recovered to qualify a tenth adrift of Hamilton amid Mercedes' tyre temperature woes. Things weren't any better in the race in this regard, and Rosberg simply benefited from Hamilton's retirement and Kvyat's bad luck with the safety car timings to rise to fourth.

An unusual experience for Hamilton: explaining an early retirement © LAT

You can't really criticise him too much (though he was slower than Hamilton's healthy car) - Mercedes simply wasn't at the races this weekend.

44 LEWIS HAMILTON
Mercedes F1 W06

Start: 5th
Finish: Retired
Strategy: (super-soft/soft/retired)

Rating: 7

Hamilton was mystified by Mercedes' lack of pace in qualifying here. He didn't quite hook his best sectors together (very difficult on this track), but wouldn't have qualified any higher had he done so.

The world championship leader reckoned he had the pace and strategy to win before a faulty clamp caused his engine to lose boost pressure. He was quicker than Rosberg in the race, but he wasn't really fast enough to take on Vettel and Ricciardo.

3 DANIEL RICCIARDO
Red Bull-Renault RB11

Start: 2nd
Finish: 2nd
Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/super-soft/soft)

Rating: 10

The RB11 has improved steadily since Silverstone, and Ricciardo has been driving better recently too, less frustrated by the machinery at his disposal.

Ricciardo's grin was back © LAT

The car wasn't quite a match for the Ferraris here, but Ricciardo produced an excellent lap to split them in qualifying and took the fight to Vettel as best he could in the race. It was another highly impressive performance from the Australian, who really made Vettel work for the win.

26 DANIIL KVYAT
Red Bull-Renault RB11

Start: 4th
Finish: 6th
Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/super-soft/soft)

Rating: 7

Kvyat was fastest on Friday, despite sitting out most of the first session with a fuel system problem. He didn't quite carry that form through to the crucial part of Saturday, though, and paid for dropping two tenths in the middle sector on his vital lap in Q3.

His race was frustrating. Pitting before each safety car dropped him behind the Mercedes, then Bottas's Williams too, but in truth he also lacked a touch of pace in each stint.

19 FELIPE MASSA
Williams-Mercedes FW37

Start: 9th
Finish: Retired
Strategy: (super-soft/super-soft/soft/retired)

Rating: 6

Massa could have split the Mercedes had he hooked it together in qualifying, but he wound up three tenths adrift of Bottas and behind Verstappen too. He gets marked down for that, but he didn't do a lot wrong in the race.

Massa fends off Hulkenberg prior to their collision © XPB

A slow right-front tyre change lost him crucial seconds, which led to a collision with Hulkenberg at Turn 3. The resultant puncture set him back then a gearbox problem (not related to electrical interference) put him out.

77 VALTTERI BOTTAS
Williams-Mercedes FW37

Start: 7th
Finish: 5th
Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/super-soft/soft)

Rating: 8

Williams has worked hard to understand why the FW37 is so weak in low-speed corners, and that work seems to be paying off as the team was far more competitive here than in Monaco.

Bottas did a better job of hooking up his qualifying lap than Massa. Williams' hopes of fighting Mercedes in the race were a little wide of the mark, but Bottas did his job well enough and got the best result realistically possible.

5 SEBASTIAN VETTEL
Ferrari SF15-T

Start: 1st
Finish: 1st
Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/super-soft/soft)

Rating: 10

Vettel is prodigious around this circuit, which really suits his driving style. He wasn't totally happy with the car on Friday, but some overnight set-up changes brought things to life on Saturday, and Vettel was untouchable in final free practice and qualifying.

Ferrari had plenty to celebrate © LAT

His final Q3 lap in particular was mesmerising to watch. He wasn't quite so dominant in race, and was pushed hard by Ricciardo, but always seemed to have just enough in hand. This was Vettel at his very best.

7 KIMI RAIKKONEN
Ferrari SF15-T

Start: 3rd
Finish: 3rd
Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/super-soft/soft)

Rating: 6

Raikkonen was the faster of the two Ferrari drivers on Friday, but things unravelled for him a little thereafter. He wasn't happy with the handling of his SF15-T in final practice, and ended up qualifying 0.782s slower than Vettel, an enormous gap between team-mates.

He said he found parts of the race better, but lost too much rear grip when he tried to push. It was puzzling that Vettel got the tyres working so well, yet Raikkonen could not.

14 FERNANDO ALONSO
McLaren-Honda MP4-30

Start: 12th
Finish: Retired
Strategy: (super-soft/soft/retired)

Rating: 9

Like Vettel, Alonso is a bit of a monster around this place, and the Spaniard was clearly the faster of the two McLaren drivers throughout the weekend.

Alonso was enjoying one of his best races of 2015 before the McLaren failed © XPB

He revelled in the contrast between the MP4-30's relative performance compared to Monza and did well to outpace team-mate Button by 0.691s and split the Force Indias in qualifying. He chased Perez early on, fought with Sainz after the first stops, and was running in the points when his gearbox packed up.

22 JENSON BUTTON
McLaren-Honda MP4-30

Start: 15th
Finish: Retired
Strategy: (super-soft/soft/soft/super-soft/retired)

Rating: 6

Button felt hot brakes contributed to a weak qualifying session, where he struggled to "read" the tyres and picked up too much understeer. He endured a bad start to the race, dropping behind both Saubers on the first lap, then lost around 35s to a problem with the right-front wheelnut at his first pitstop.

Though his pace was ultimately decent, contact with Maldonado's Lotus after the second restart spoiled hopes of stealing a point; a subsequent gearbox problem scuppered them entirely.

11 SERGIO PEREZ
Force India-Mercedes VJM08

Start: 13th
Finish: 7th
Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/soft/soft)

Rating: 7

Perez feels he's really got a handle on how to set-up the B-spec VJM08 now, and was sure he could have made the top 10 in qualifying without the yellow flags caused by Sainz's crash late in Q2.

A tough weekend for Hulkenberg ended in a collision © LAT

He made a strong start to the race to jump Alonso's McLaren and Grosjean's Lotus. His tyre management skills again came to the fore, and that left him enough rubber to fend off the charging Toro Rosso drivers at the end.

27 NICO HULKENBERG
Force India-Mercedes VJM08

Start: 11th
Finish: Retired
Strategy: (super-soft/soft/retired)

Rating: 5

Not a weekend to remember for Hulkenberg. He felt happy with his car's balance on Friday, but complained the car was "snappy, on the edge and difficult to drive" in qualifying, where he would have qualified behind Perez but for the yellow flags at the end of Q2.

His race started well enough, but then he lost a points chance through needless contact with Massa's Williams. Hulkenberg should probably have given more room, thus he copped a penalty.

33 MAX VERSTAPPEN
Toro Rosso-Renault STR10

Start: 8th
Finish: 8th
Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/soft/super-soft)

Rating: 8

A rollercoaster ride on Verstappen's Singapore debut. He couldn't keep the rear tyres alive in final practice, but his form was transformed with set-up changes for qualifying and he superbly split the Williams drivers.

Verstappen and Sainz get close © LAT

He then stalled at the start of the race, but one safety car got him back on the lead lap, and the other closed the field up so he could attack. He did so with aplomb, dispatching Nasr's Sauber and the two Lotuses to recover to his original position by the flag.

55 CARLOS SAINZ JR
Toro Rosso-Renault STR10

Start: 14th
Finish: 9th
Strategy: 3 stops (super-soft/soft/super-soft/super-soft)

Rating: 6

A messy weekend. Sainz clouted the wall on Friday, and again (much harder this time) in qualifying, which meant he didn't make Q3. He started the race well, but a gearbox glitch just before the first restart lost him heaps of time and probably tyre temperature. He lost 15s to Verstappen in eight subsequent laps.

A third stop under the second safety car reset his race. He drove well at the end but was lucky to get away with forcing Grosjean wide at Turn 1.

8 ROMAIN GROSJEAN
Lotus-Mercedes E23

Start: 10th
Finish: 13th (DNF)
Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/soft)

Rating: 7

Grosjean again earned praise for transforming a car that was well off the pace in practice into a vessel for another "miracle" Q3 appearance. Unfortunately he overcooked his top-10 run so wound up a distant 10th on the grid.

Grosjean tries to fend off a train of fellow midfield runners © XPB

He felt a combination of Verstappen stalling directly in front and his own sloppiness accounted for first-lap slide to 13th. He then attempted mammoth 35-lap final stint on soft tyres but ran out of grip so tumbled out of the points and retired the car with gearbox concerns.

13 PASTOR MALDONADO
Lotus-Mercedes E23

Start: 18th
Finish: 12th
Strategy: 3 stops (super-soft/super-soft/soft/super-soft)

Rating: 5

Maldonado yo-yoed up and down the timesheet in practice and was nowhere in qualifying, unable to extract grip from his E23, though in fairness the 0.463s gap to Grosjean in Q1 was less than some other team-mate combinations.

His tangle with Button shortly after the final restart was unnecessary, and he got mugged by the Toro Rossos soon after, though he had picked up diffuser damage. A late switch back to super-softs came too late to recover points.

28 WILL STEVENS
Marussia-Ferrari MR-03B

Start: 19th
Finish: 15th
Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/soft/super-soft)

Rating: 5

Stevens reckoned this was the "hardest weekend of my F1 career so far" on "the hardest track I've ever had to learn". A needless Friday shunt set him back, so he was pleased to finish up half a second faster than new team-mate Alexander Rossi in qualifying.

Rossi made a respectable debut © XPB

He locked up trying to defend position at Turn 7 on the first lap of the race, and couldn't keep pace as the race wore on. A "character building" event.

53 ALEXANDER ROSSI
Marussia-Ferrari MR-03B

Start: 20th
Finish: 14th
Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/soft/super-soft)

Rating: 8

Things didn't look good for Rossi after Friday practice. The American was quick out of the box in the first session but shunted heavily, and thus missed most of the crucial second session. He worked hard in practice three, but wasn't totally comfortable with the effect of engine braking on the car's balance, which affected his qualifying performance.

Rossi then drove a fine race on his debut, though, particularly the final stint, where he pulled out over 13s in 18 laps on team-mate Stevens.

9 MARCUS ERICSSON
Sauber-Ferrari C34

Start: 17th
Finish: 11th
Strategy: 3 stops (super-soft/soft/super-soft/soft)

Rating: 6

Ericsson was disappointed not to make Q2 in the heavily updated Sauber, and felt the strategy for releasing him onto the track for his first run in Q1 was to blame for his early ice bath.

Sauber brought a substantial update © LAT

He got a bit unlucky with the timing of the safety car periods, but also burned up his last set of tyres trying to follow his team-mate in chasing down Grosjean, so was fortunate not to get passed by Maldonado on the last lap.

12 FELIPE NASR
Sauber-Ferrari C34

Start: 16th
Finish: 10th
Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/soft/soft)

Rating: 7

After a recent run of underwhelming races in comparison to his team-mate, this was a much better grand prix for Nasr, who finished in the points for the first time since May's Monaco GP.

He felt the Marina Bay circuit exposed the C34's Achilles' heel on traction, but he managed to squeak narrowly ahead of Ericsson in qualifying and enjoyed a marginally stronger race. Slightly superior tyre management from the Brazilian told at the end. A solid drive.