Mid-season F1 driver ratings

This Formula 1 season has proceeded at breakneck pace, completing 12 races inside little more than four months.

And a lot has happened in that short period. The title protagonists have collided multiple times; Ferrari has slipped back from being a possible championship contender to a stunned also-ran; and McLaren-Honda has risen from the ashes of a terrible 2015 season to become a leading midfield team.

We've also seen rules reversals from F1's powerbrokers on the qualifying format and the use of radio communication between drivers and the pitwall.

Now F1 has a chance to relax briefly and try to take it all in - work out who has made the most of their opportunities over the first half of the season, and who needs to raise their game when F1 reconvenes at Spa at the end of the month.

Here Autosport gives its own verdict on what we've seen so far from F1's 22 drivers in 2016.

What follows is a subjective analysis of each driver's efforts over the first 12 grands prix of the season, which accounts for (but does not depend on) averages of the individual scores awarded after each race.

Mercedes W07

Rating: 7

There was a time not so long ago that Nico Rosberg could do no wrong. Four wins on the bounce while his team-mate toiled against poor reliability made Rosberg the odds-on favourite to become champion. But since that collision in Spain things have unravelled faster than you can say 'world title'.

Rosberg's weakness in wheel-to-wheel battle has been exposed several times, and he's found it difficult to make the most of his opportunities as the title race has tightened up. What once looked an unassailable points lead has now become a deficit. Rosberg isn't out of this fight yet, but he's most definitely on the ropes.

Highlight: Making it a perfect four wins from four starts in Russia.

Lowlight: Being so slow in the Monaco rain Mercedes told him to let Hamilton past.

44 LEWIS HAMILTON

Mercedes W07

Rating: 8

Hamilton's title defence was in tatters after the Spanish Grand Prix. Car in bits after a controversial first-lap collision, no wins on the board, a large points deficit to Rosberg, and grid penalties looming thanks to his machine's unhealthy appetite for munching through engine components. That Hamilton now leads the championship seven races later is a testament to this champion's skills and never-say-die attitude.

He'll be the first to admit he's not been at his absolute best over the first part of this season, but he's nicked several races (Austria, Hungary, Germany) from under Rosberg's nose, and (Baku aside) has been the best Mercedes driver since the Barcelona collision.

Highlight: Utterly dominating the British Grand Prix, topping every session.

Lowlight: Nightmare Baku weekend, including qualifying crash and tyre and engine woes in the race.

Ferrari SF16-H

Rating: 7

Vettel was a relentless thorn in Mercedes' side last season, but his form has been patchier this year, coinciding with Ferrari's dip in competitiveness. His two-point deficit to team-mate Raikkonen is more down to poor reliability than anything else, and there have been flashes of star quality (qualifying in Canada springs to mind).

But Vettel has also made more mistakes than he did in 2015 - driving into Raikkonen in China, driving too slowly in Austria qualifying, making a total hash of the British Grand Prix - and consequently has not looked such a force of nature during the early part of his second season at Maranello.

Highlight: Pushing Mercedes hard in qualifying and finishing second in Canada.

Lowlight: Scrappy drive to a lowly ninth at Silverstone.

7 KIMI RAIKKONEN

Ferrari SF16-H

Rating: 6

Raikkonen has been solid over the first part of this season, seemingly benefiting from Ferrari's winter efforts to make the front end of his car more responsive. He produced his usual decent drive in Bahrain and finished a close second to Verstappen in Spain. He's also scored points more consistently this year.

But Raikkonen is still generally underwhelming in qualifying (8-4 down in the intra-team battle) and has a habit of making life harder than it needs to be. He has earned a contract extension (a few races earlier than last year), but is still not performing consistently at the level expected from a driver in one of F1's top seats.

Highlight: The first 55 laps of his Hungarian GP were superb, until he got stuck behind Verstappen.

Lowlight: Crashing carelessly in Monaco, followed by an under-par showing in Canada.

Williams-Mercedes FW38

Rating: 5

Massa's season started brightly enough, despite driving a relatively less competitive car than last year's, and he was the top scoring Williams driver across the first three races. But things have gradually unravelled since May's Spanish GP and Massa has scored only one of his 38 points during the past six events. By contrast, team-mate Bottas has scored 29 over that same period.

Massa has looked particularly underwhelming on track recently, like a driver who knows his F1 future is hanging by a precarious thread. It's a shame, because on his day he's every bit as good as Bottas - he's just not having enough of those right now.

Highlight: Drove a "perfect" race to hold off Hamilton and finish sixth in China.

Lowlight: Hungary. Crashed on an out-lap in wet qualifying and made no progress while battling wonky steering in the race.

77 VALTTERI BOTTAS

Williams-Mercedes FW38

Rating: 7

After a slow start to the season Bottas got things going with a combative drive to fourth in Russia, followed by a top-five finish in Spain and a podium in Canada. It seemed his confidence took a knock after that first-corner collision with Hamilton in Bahrain, but he's undoubtedly been the quicker of the two Williams drivers so far this year and has generally fared better than Massa as the team has struggled to get the Pirelli tyres working correctly during recent races.

Bottas is not quite the hot property he was when Ferrari came calling last summer, but he remains one of the better performers on the grid.

Highlight: Undoubtedly his drive to third in Canada, beating a Mercedes, both Red Bulls and a Ferrari.

Lowlight: Silverstone. The car isn't great in the wet, but Bottas admitted to making too many mistakes.

Red Bull-Renault RB12

Rating: 9

Ricciardo has been one of the best drivers in F1 in the V6 era and that remains the case. Some of his qualifying performances in the early part of this season - particularly China, Spain and Monaco (where he bagged pole) - were outstanding. He's had two team-mates already this year, and only been outqualified once.

Verstappen has given him more to think about in the races since replacing Daniil Kvyat at Red Bull, and Ricciardo's form dipped slightly after the double disappointment of losing victories in Spain and Monaco, but the Aussie has raised his own game in response and was back to his best in Germany.

Highlight: Was brilliant in Monaco and would have won but for Red Bull's pit blunder.

Lowlight: Missing wins in Spain and Monaco, obviously, but was second best to Verstappen all weekend at Silverstone - usually a strong circuit for Ricciardo.

33 MAX VERSTAPPEN

Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR11/Red Bull-Renault RB12

Rating: 9

The meteoric rise of Max Verstappen continues. After a strong start with Toro Rosso, Red Bull switched him with Kvyat and offered Verstappen a new long-term contract. He became the youngest winner in F1 history in his first race with the team and has been Red Bull's top-scoring driver since the switch.

He has continued to show spectacular, instinctive racecraft, as his passes on Rosberg at Silverstone and Ricciardo in Germany brilliantly displayed, and expert tyre management skills - he twice fended off tyre-management master Raikkonen in Spain and Austria. His own brand of controlled aggression has raised the game at Red Bull, but he's courting disaster by jinking around under braking...

Highlight: The win in Spain is obvious but his Mercedes-bothering British GP performance was better.

Lowlight: Trying too hard and crashing out of both qualifying and the race in Monaco.

Force India-Mercedes VJM09

Rating: 7

Perez should be pretty content with 2016 so far. His first four races weren't much to write home about, but he's worked well with the VJM09 since its major Barcelona update. But for brake failure in Austria and the team's pitstop blunder in Hungary Perez would have scored points in every race since then.

He's been a bit fortunate strategically, particularly in Monaco and Britain, but he's continued to push Hulkenberg hard in qualifying and deserves credit for putting himself in a position to capitalise on his chances. Very much a solid continuation of the good work he put in during the second half of last season.

Highlight: Undoubtedly his Baku podium. Was top-three quick all weekend and bounced back brilliantly from a silly practice crash.

Lowlight: Bahrain. Was off Hulkenberg's pace before the team's Q1 blunder, then collided cackhandedly with Sainz in the race.

27 NICO HULKENBERG

Force India-Mercedes VJM09

Rating: 7

Some impressive peaks, countered by a few frustrating troughs. When Force India has been fast, Hulkenberg's not been able to capitalise fully and bag big results. And his better weekends have tended to come when Force India has been relatively less competitive.

After a sequence of disappointing races he was brilliant in Monaco qualifying, until poor strategy cost him the chance to be on the podium instead of Perez. But Hulkenberg is not wholly innocent. He failed to make the most of Force India's strong Baku form, and lost his tyre management discipline in Austria after starting on the front row. He has driven quite well at times, but is yet to really string it all together.

Highlight: Superb qualifying performances in Monaco and Austria.

Lowlight: China. Struggled in qualifying, penalised for pitlane shenanigans in the race, and couldn't keep the tyres alive.

Renault RS16

Rating: 7

The chance to race for Renault has revived Magnussen's F1 career, but the jury is still out on whether he's absolutely making the most of the opportunity. Early on he was mighty, maximising a difficult car in Bahrain, almost making Q2 in China (despite turning no full laps in practice), and scoring Renault's only points of the season so far with a heroic performance in Russia.

But since then Magnussen's star has faded a little. Opportunities to score points in a Renault are few and far between, but recently his rookie team-mate has looked the more likely candidate. Magnussen characterises his season as one of mistakes and miracles, but he'll need a few more of the latter to secure his future.

Highlight: Most definitely his superb race to seventh in Russia.

Lowlight: Driving into his team-mate in Spain, followed by a messy race in Monaco.

30 JOLYON PALMER

Renault RS16

Rating: 6

Palmer's rookie F1 season has been a tough learning experience. He started brilliantly by beating Magnussen in Australia, but then failed to build momentum amid problems with the car and his own tendency to make mistakes at crucial times. He's suffered some bad luck too, and deserves a certain amount of slack given his rookie status, but he did spend all of last year ensconced at Lotus so can't be considered completely green.

He drove a decent race in Austria, was superb in Hungary until spinning away 10th place, and qualified strongly in Germany. Palmer has demonstrated flashes of potential, but needs to cut out the errors and become more consistent.

Highlight: Being the top Renault driver on his F1 debut in Melbourne.

Lowlight: Spinning away a breakthrough points finish inexplicably in Hungary.

Red Bull-Renault RB12/Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR11

Rating: 5

Kvyat's world has fallen apart since Red Bull switched him with Verstappen ahead of the Spanish GP. Other drivers voiced sympathy, given Kvyat finished on the podium two races earlier, but Kvyat had been struggling in qualifying and therefore failing to put Ricciardo under enough pressure.

Red Bull hoped to see a positive reaction, but so far Kvyat hasn't delivered. The circumstances are far from ideal, but he has also tried too hard to force the issue and failed to channel his obvious anger in a constructive way. There were signs of life in Germany, where he raced well after a tough qualifying, but he needs to get back on track quickly because his F1 career hangs by the barest of threads.

Highlight: Passing both Ferraris at Turn 1 and finishing third in China.

Lowlight: Losing his Red Bull seat to Verstappen has clearly hit Kvyat very hard.

55 CARLOS SAINZ JR

Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR11

Rating: 8

Verstappen moving to Red Bull after four races is arguably the best thing that's happened to Sainz since he graduated to F1. Things were tense at Toro Rosso early on, as both drivers became focused on trying to out-do the other in a fight for career survival.

But Sainz has really come out of his shell since Verstappen's departure, and the young Spaniard has scored points in all but two of the races (Baku - where the car's suspension failed, and Germany - where STR was generally uncompetitive) since Verstappen stopped being his team-mate. The fact Sainz has been re-signed for next season already indicates what a good job he's done so far.

Highlight: Finishing sixth in Spain, after battling with the Ferraris early on.

Lowlight: Losing a podium chance to slow pitstops in Monaco.

Sauber-Ferrari C35

Rating: 6

Ericsson finished last season decently, and for the first five races of this year he was undoubtedly the better of Sauber's two drivers. As Nasr toiled with a chassis he didn't trust, Ericsson simply kept his head down and got on with the job at hand.

Unfortunately, underfunded Sauber is nowhere near as competitive as it was last season, so all Ericsson has to show for his efforts are a couple of 12th placed finishes. His form has taken a bit of a dip since Montreal, not helped by two costly pre-race crashes at Silverstone and the Hungaroring, but he shaded Nasr at Hockenheim and needs to continue in that vein.

Highlight: Drive to 12th in Spain - beating both Renaults - was a strong effort.

Lowlight: Crashing for the second race in a row in Q1 in Hungary.

12 FELIPE NASR

Sauber-Ferrari C35

Rating: 5

The first three races were terrible for Nasr, who complained repeatedly about a lack of stability from the rear of his C35, which hadn't been present in the car he and Ericsson drove at the final pre-season test.

The team could find no obvious problem, but changed Nasr's chassis for the Russian GP anyway, and he has improved his form gradually since then, no longer getting thrashed by Ericsson in qualifying and finding more consistency in the races. Ericsson recently took over Nasr's old chassis (after crashing his own) and says there's nothing wrong with it, but regardless Nasr now looks more like his old self.

Highlight: Escaping Q1 and chasing Button's McLaren in Baku, and fighting Bottas's Williams at Silverstone.

Lowlight: Colliding with his team-mate in Monaco after refusing team orders to let him past.

McLaren-Honda MP4-31

Rating: 8

The McLaren-Honda is vastly more competitive than it was last season and Alonso appears to have raised his own game in response - particularly in qualifying, where he has made the top 10 five times and usually had the edge over team-mate Button. He was a bit lucky to finish sixth in Russia, but his drive to bag McLaren's best result of the season so far - fifth in Monaco - was top-drawer.

There have been a couple of disappointing races, notably Germany where he failed to conserve enough fuel to score points, and frustration at unreliability has occasionally got the better of him, but Alonso has generally enjoyed a strong start to the season.

Highlight: Holding off Rosberg's Mercedes to finish fifth in Monaco, in an ill-handling car.

Lowlight: Has to be that enormous Australian GP shunt that broke his ribs and sidelined him for Bahrain.

22 JENSON BUTTON

McLaren-Honda MP4-31

Rating: 7

Write Button off at your peril. There's no doubt he hasn't quite been able to match Alonso for pure speed this season, but Button's scored points more often (even though his ultimate tally is lower) and has generally performed much stronger relatively in the races. Button has tended to lack Alonso's dynamism when the car is short on stability, but his peaks - a perfect top-six showing in Austria and a brilliant race drive in Germany - should remind everyone what he is capable of.

Throughout the current V6 era Button has been racing with the cloud of an uncertain future hanging over his head, yet he remains among the better and more committed performers on the grid.

Highlight: Definitely Austria. Was sublime in the mixed conditions of Q3 and kept his head in the race to bag the best possible result.

Lowlight: Hungary. Problems with the brakes and a penalty for fixing them illegally made for a frustrating race droning around at the back.

Manor-Mercedes MRT-05

Rating: 5

Haryanto is a motor racing pioneer for his native Indonesia, but the early part of what became a truncated rookie F1 season turned up precious little to write home about. He came into the campaign talking of a need to improve in qualifying - a general weakness of his in the junior formulae - and in actual fact that was the stronger element of his game, helped by generally having more prior circuit knowledge than his team-mate.

But he wasn't able to achieve anything close to Wehrlein's peaks with the car. The fact Haryanto struggled to think of a personal highlight from his 12 races when asked is telling.

Highlight: His qualifying performances in Melbourne, Monaco and at Silverstone were all encouraging.

Lowlight: Showed a woeful lack of speed in changeable conditions in the Monaco race.

94 PASCAL WEHRLEIN

Manor-Mercedes MRT-05

Rating: 8

The Mercedes junior has made a very assured start to his F1 career. Obliterating Haryanto in qualifying in Bahrain, then battling with the faster midfield cars, gave the world a glimpse of his potential, and Wehrlein's performance in Austria - where he qualified 12th and finished inside the top 10 - prompted Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff to describe him as "a very special boy".

When the Manor has been capable Wehrlein has absolutely risen to the occasion. But his qualifying record against Haryanto is not spectacular, and that's perhaps why Mercedes is so keen to see Wehrlein go head-to-head with fellow junior Esteban Ocon over the second half of the season - to judge how quick the German really is.

Highlight: Undoubtedly Austria. That point could prove invaluable to Manor, but the qualifying performance that put Wehrlein in contention was truly excellent.

Lowlight: Silverstone. Qualified behind Haryanto then spun off early in the race.

Haas-Ferrari VF-16

Rating: 7

The post-Lotus chapter of Grosjean's career couldn't really have started better. He scored points in three of the first four races, as Haas bucked F1's new-team trend to become an immediate midfielder. But an unhappy weekend in China amid that run has arguably defined the first half of Grosjean's season.

Though he's scored all Haas's points and usually been its fastest driver, he's often been unhappy with the car's handling and has moaned repeatedly about its braking performance. Such difficulties are to be expected with a new team, but Grosjean - who has again been overlooked by Ferrari - has struggled to contain his frustration. He needs to find a way to change his circumstances for the better.

Highlight: Finishing fifth in Bahrain. Missing out on Q3 helped, but he was relentless in the race.

Lowlight: Reversing down the order in China. A "horrific" race to endure on his birthday weekend.

21 ESTEBAN GUTIERREZ

Haas-Ferrari VF-16

Rating: 6

On the face of it Gutierrez has endured a difficult and immensely frustrating return to full-time F1 action. His car has suffered repeated technical troubles; he's scored no points; and has become the subject of ire from frontrunners for his supposed reluctance to yield to blue flags.

But scratch beneath the surface and there has been a respectable underlying level of performance, it's just his best races have tended to be ones where Haas has struggled. Gutierrez wasn't far from the points in Spain, Austria and Germany, and since Spain he's 4-3 up in the intra-team qualifying battle. Possesses intense underlying self-belief, but nevertheless needs a few big results to show the world his confidence is not misplaced.

Highlight: Racing up the order with no DRS in China, despite missing all of Friday practice.

Lowlight: Crashing into Hulkenberg at Turn 2 in Russia, and gaining a reputation as F1's most difficult backmarker.