Chinese Grand Prix driver ratings

6 NICO ROSBERG
Mercedes F1 W07

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

Rating: 10

Some reckoned Rosberg was in for an 'easy' weekend on account of Hamilton's tribulations (including Hamilton himself) but Rosberg still earned his corn with a superb lap to get through Q2 on softs before pulling another one out of the bag in Q3.

The start was always going to be tough on harder tyres than his rivals, but he stayed calm and eventually dominated. He did not have much opposition but was tough to fault.

44 LEWIS HAMILTON
Mercedes F1 W07

Start: 22nd
Finish: 7th
Strategy: 5 stops (soft/soft/super-soft/soft/soft/medium)

Rating: 7

This was another race of damage limitation for Hamilton, thanks to a gearbox penalty and then an engine change after a problem with the MGU-H in qualifying.

A whack from Nasr at Turn 3 on lap one ruined his race, so in hindsight he should have started from the pits. He arguably should have nailed Massa at the end, even with a damaged car, but he is dealing well with constant setbacks.

5 SEBASTIAN VETTEL
Ferrari SF16-H

Start: 4th
Finish: 2nd
Strategy: 3 stops (super-soft/super-soft/soft/soft)

Rating: 7

Ferrari looked competitive through practice and the early stages of qualifying, but faltered when Mercedes turned up the heat.

Vettel loses marks for underperforming in Q3 and colliding with Raikkonen at Turn 1, which wasn't really Kvyat's fault despite Vettel's efforts to proclaim it so. His recovery to second was a mix of decisive and indecisive, but he ultimately achieved the best result possible.

7 KIMI RAIKKONEN
Ferrari SF16-H

Start: 3rd
Finish: 5th
Strategy: 3 stops (super-soft/soft/medium/soft)

Rating: 7

Raikkonen felt he had a genuine pole shot in China, but once again made a mistake at the vital moment. He loses points for that.

The Finn started well, but locked-up at Turn 1, which indirectly triggered contact with Vettel as Raikkonen cut back to the racing line. His pace after repairs was disappointing, slower than Ricciardo's Red Bull, but he couldn't say whether residual damage was to blame.

19 FELIPE MASSA
Williams-Mercedes FW38

Start: 10th
Finish: 6th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/soft/medium)

Rating: 9

Massa looked to be one of the biggest losers of the Hulkenberg incident in Q2, but admitted to an error on his first run that cost him easy passage into Q3 so loses a mark for that.

He reckoned his race to sixth, fending off Hamilton's Mercedes in the closing stages, was "perfect". It's difficult to see what more he could have done given Williams's pace on Sunday.

77 VALTTERI BOTTAS
Williams-Mercedes FW38

Start: 5th
Finish: 10th
Strategy: 3 stops (super-soft/soft/soft/medium)

Rating: 6

Bottas pulled off a "mega" lap in qualifying to be fifth, just behind Vettel, but lost ground by going to the outside of the Ferraris at Turn 1.

He recovered decently, and was right with Massa at the start of the final stint before tumbling back to 10th. Bottas wasn't sure why his Williams suffered "terrible" degradation on the medium while the other car didn't.

3 DANIEL RICCIARDO
Red Bull-Renault RB12

Start: 2nd
Finish: 4th
Strategy: 3 stops (super-soft/soft/soft/medium)

Rating: 10

Ricciardo produced arguably the best qualifying lap of his career to beat the Ferraris to the front row. He seems to have found a real knack with the super-soft tyres that elevates him to a higher level.

The Australian reckoned his drive to fourth in the race was right up there too. It's difficult to disagree given the early puncture. He would surely have finished second without that.

26 DANIIL KVYAT
Red Bull-Renault RB12

Start: 6th
Finish: 3rd
Strategy: 3 stops (super-soft/soft/soft/medium)

Rating: 8

Qualifying was much, much better for Kvyat after the tribulations of Australia and Bahrain, but he was still firmly shaded by his team-mate and outqualified by a Williams.

His race was excellent, though. He couldn't really be faulted for filling a Ferrari-shaped gap at Turn 1, and he held off Vettel's faster Ferrari for as long as he could. The podium finish should boost his confidence.

11 SERGIO PEREZ
Force India-Mercedes VJM09

Start: 7th
Finish: 11th
Strategy: 3 stops (super-soft/soft/soft/medium)

Rating: 6

Perez has come a long way on front-limited circuits, which had been a weakness, and managed to outqualify team-mate Hulkenberg and both Toro Rossos. He gets marked up for that.

The race was looking rosy early on, but Perez killed his second set of soft tyres in battle and, similar to Bottas, struggled managing the mediums at the end, so lost his shot at finishing in the points.

27 NICO HULKENBERG
Force India-Mercedes VJM09

Start: 13th
Finish: 15th
Strategy: 4 stops (super-soft/soft/soft/medium/super-soft)

Rating: 5

Hulkenberg was always behind Perez in qualifying, even before a wheel came off in the dying moments of Q2. He nullified the three-place grid penalty with a strong first lap, but got penalised again for backing cars up in the pits under the safety car.

The German suffered even worse tyre life than his team-mate in traffic and had to make an extra stop. A race to forget.

20 KEVIN MAGNUSSEN
Renault RS16

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

Rating: 9

Magnussen hadn't actually driven through the final corner this weekend until his first lap of qualifying, thanks to losing most of Friday practice to a rear suspension problem, so almost making Q2 was an outstanding effort.

He raced closely with Ericsson's Sauber until their strategies diverged. Magnussen probably did as well as could be expected given Renault admits it is "nowhere" on race pace right now.

30 JOLYON PALMER
Renault RS16

Start: 19th
Finish: 22nd
Strategy: 3 stops (soft/super-soft/soft/medium)

Rating: 3

Palmer enjoyed a much cleaner build-up than his team-mate but qualified almost a second adrift, flummoxed by rear grip problems throughout Friday and Saturday, which he suspects are down to some missing aero performance.

He described his loss of pace since Melbourne as "catastrophic", and it continued in the race as he trailed home last. The rookie needs a reset to get things back on track.

33 MAX VERSTAPPEN
Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR11

Start: 9th
Finish: 8th
Strategy: 3 stops (super-soft/soft/medium/soft)

Rating: 9

Verstappen struggled with misaligned steering in qualifying, which pulled his car to the left, though he still wasn't far away from Sainz in Q2.

He lost out badly in the first-lap 'melee' but got his head down and recovered superbly. A mega middle stint on the medium tyre set up a charge into the points at the end. Another lap and he would have passed Hamilton's Mercedes too.

55 CARLOS SAINZ JR
Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR11

Start: 8th
Finish: 9th
Strategy: 3 stops (super-soft/soft/soft/medium)

Rating: 8

Sainz was overall the fastest Toro Rosso driver in qualifying again, this time when it counted, though the team felt he should have beaten Perez too.

He started well, but got delayed by Hulkenberg in the pits, struggled on his second set of soft tyres, and had to yield to Verstappen. Still, he did well to follow his team-mate through the pack at the end on harder rubber.

9 MARCUS ERICSSON
Sauber-Ferrari C35

Start: 15th
Finish: 16th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/medium/medium)

Rating: 8

Ericsson told Autosport he deserved at least 8/10 for his Bahrain GP performance. Autosport argued he should have beaten Magnussen's Renault, given it started from the pits. This time he did beat Magnussen's Renault, and the other tail-end cars, so deserves an 8.

He was fortunate to survive a brush with Grosjean on lap one, but impressed in qualifying and managed tyres decently in the race.

12 FELIPE NASR
Sauber-Ferrari C35

Start: 16th
Finish: 20th
Strategy: 3 stops (soft/medium/medium/soft)

Rating: 5

Nasr reverted to his team-mate's set-up to try to solve his ongoing braking and handling woes. He was nowhere on Friday, but Saturday was much better, though he was still three tenths off Ericsson in qualifying.

The Brazilian still felt uncomfortable in the race but lost massive ground to contact with Hamilton on lap one. Without that incident he would probably have finished not too far behind Ericsson.

14 FERNANDO ALONSO
McLaren-Honda MP4-31

Start: 11th
Finish: 12th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/medium/medium)

Rating: 8

Alonso managed some pain but otherwise seemed back to form on his return from injury. He was a touch slower than Button on comparable Q1 runs and frustrated by red flags in Q2, but McLaren-Honda is arguably not quite quick enough for Q3 on merit yet.

He used the medium tyre well in the race and was catching Perez and Bottas quickly at the end.

22 JENSON BUTTON
McLaren-Honda MP4-31

Start: 12th
Finish: 13th
Strategy: 3 stops (super-soft/medium/medium/super-soft)

Rating: 7

Button showed serious pace in Q1, but Q3 still looks beyond McLaren-Honda, which had the seventh fastest car in China in reality.

The long-run pace on the softer tyres is a particular weakness, so McLaren focused on using the medium in the race, which started well for Button but went south due to Hulkenberg's go-slow antics in the pits and an underwhelming third stint.

88 RIO HARYANTO
Manor-Mercedes MRT-05

Start: 20th
Finish: 21st
Strategy: 3 stops (soft/soft/soft/medium)

Rating: 4

Haryanto wasn't really anywhere near team-mate Wehrlein over a single lap, but looked the better of the two Manor drivers over longer runs in practice. That did not translate to the race, where both cars ran artificially high up early on by not pitting under the safety car.

Though he has usually been stronger than Wehrlein at managing tyres, this time Haryanto just fell away as the race wore on.

94 PASCAL WEHRLEIN
Manor-Mercedes MRT-05

Start: 21st
Finish: 18th
Strategy: 3 stops (soft/soft/soft/super-soft)

Rating: 8

Wehrlein came unstuck for being the slick-tyre guinea pig at the start of qualifying, but has to lose points for shunting on the straight - bump and wet track notwithstanding.

The race was much better, particularly in terms of tyre management, which has been a weakness thus far. He gained six places on lap one, thrashed his team-mate and was hunting Magnussen's Renault at the end.

8 ROMAIN GROSJEAN
Haas-Ferrari VF-16

Start: 14th
Finish: 19th
Strategy: 4 stops (soft/soft/soft/super-soft/super-soft)

Rating: 5

Not one of Grosjean's best weekends, and a bit of a reality check for Haas after two outstanding grands prix.

He struggled with "ridiculous" tyre pressure limits and car set-up. A chop from Ericsson on lap one set him back, but he also got stuck behind Haryanto's Manor, and didn't manage tyres as effectively as team-mate Gutierrez. He suspects his suspension was not set right.

21 ESTEBAN GUTIERREZ
Haas-Ferrari VF-16

Start: 18th
Finish: 14th
Strategy: 3 stops (soft/soft/super-soft/super-soft)

Rating: 8

Gutierrez lost Friday to a gearbox problem and a brake fire, but the track-time argument loses some traction given Magnussen's better performance amid similar woe at Renault.

A DRS problem made Gutierrez vulnerable in the race, but he stayed calm and managed tyres well, clinging to the back of the midfield and staying clear of Hulkenberg's charging Force India at the end. A good job in tricky circumstances.