Brazilian Grand Prix driver ratings

6 NICO ROSBERG
Mercedes F1 W07

Start: 2nd
Finish: 2nd
Strategy: 0 stops (wet/wet)

Rating: 7

Rosberg was not quite at Hamilton's level during qualifying. Although his team-mate did not quite hook up a perfect pole lap, a small error from Rosberg at Juncao meant he could not take advantage.

Unable to lap as quickly as Hamilton in the race, he took a conservative approach and banked the result he needed.

44 LEWIS HAMILTON
Mercedes F1 W07

Start: 1st
Finish: 1st
Strategy: 0 stops (wet/wet)

Rating: 10

Winning grands prix in the wet is never easy, but Hamilton made it look that way after converting pole position into a lights-to-flag victory.

While not quite up there with his famous 2008 British GP victory, it was an exceptional performance as he barely put a foot wrong in conditions that caught out many. No wonder he was so delighted after taking the chequered flag.

5 SEBASTIAN VETTEL
Ferrari SF16-H

Start: 5th
Finish: 5th
Strategy: 1 stop (wet/inter/wet)

Rating: 7

Vettel was a little ragged in the dry and errors on his final Q3 lap left him lower on the grid than he should have been.

Largely, he drove well in the wet, but his early spin was very costly. He recovered well, but you can't help but feel that he had the car under him to have more seriously challenged Perez's Force India. Must do better.

7 KIMI RAIKKONEN
Ferrari SF16-H

Start: 3rd
Finish: DNF
Strategy: wets/retired

Rating: 5

Raikkonen looked a little more under control than Vettel during practice, and nailed a good lap in Q3 to jump from sixth to third while his team-mate and the Red Bulls failed to improve on their second runs.

He had a conservative race, losing third to Verstappen into the first corner on the first racing lap before touching a white line and shunting at the second restart.

19 FELIPE MASSA
Williams-Mercedes FW38

Start: 13th
Finish: DNF
Strategy: 2 stops (wet/inter/wet/inter)

Rating: 4

Massa's final Brazilian GP was one of his worst, as he took his lowest home grid position and failed to get to the chequered flag there for the first time since 2002.

He struggled badly with the tyres in qualifying and couldn't make Q3, while strategic gambles did nothing for him before he crashed out. A weekend of tough breaks and few highlights.

77 VALTTERI BOTTAS
Williams-Mercedes FW38

Start: 11th
Finish: 11th
Strategy: 2 stops (wet/inter/wet/inter)

Rating: 7

While he outqualified Massa, he wasn't quite so badly affected by the Williams team's tyre troubles and did make a few mistakes of his own, so he did play a part in the failure to reach Q3.

From the moment he switched to intermediates early on, the race was against him but he showed some flashes of pace on that rubber. A bad result, but not a bad drive.

3 DANIEL RICCIARDO
Red Bull-Renault RB12

Start: 6th
Finish: 8th
Strategy: 3 stops (wet/inter/wet/inter/wet)

Rating: 7

There was nothing particularly wrong with Ricciardo's weekend, it's just that he wasn't able to do what Verstappen did.

The wrong strategy and a five-second penalty made life difficult, but a look at the closing stages of the race tells a story. He was passed by his team-mate with just over 13 laps to go, and finished nine seconds, and five places, behind him.

33 MAX VERSTAPPEN
Red Bull-Renault RB12

Start: 4th
Finish: 3rd
Strategy: 3 stops (wet/inter/wet/inter/wet)

Rating: 10

Verstappen shaded Ricciardo in dry conditions, but in the wet he was a cut above. He showed no fear as he scythed past Raikkonen into the first corner at the green flag and, aside from his high-speed spin, which he collected beautifully, drove a great race to make up for the wrong strategy.

Verstappen's pass on Perez for third again reminded us why he's F1's most exciting driver.

11 SERGIO PEREZ
Force India-Mercedes VJM09

Start: 9th
Finish: 4th
Strategy: 0 stops (wet/wet)

Rating: 8

Considering Perez is a workmanlike, rather than a great wet weather driver, his performance to come so close to a podium was exceptional.

Slightly slower than Hulkenberg in qualifying, in the race he kept it simple and stayed out of trouble. It's just a shame he couldn't keep Verstappen at bay in the closing laps. Then again, who could?

27 NICO HULKENBERG
Force India-Mercedes VJM09

Start: 8th
Finish: 7th
Strategy: 1 stop (wet/wet)

Rating: 9

Hulkenberg always goes well at Interlagos, and this was no exception. On paper, his result wasn't as strong as Perez's, but bearing in mind he was running ahead of his team-mate when he picked up a puncture on Raikkonen's debris, his claim a podium was possible isn't too unreasonable.

He was fractionally faster than Perez in the race as well, so deserved better.

20 KEVIN MAGNUSSEN
Renault RS16

Start:18th
Finish: 14th
Strategy: 2 stops (wet/inter/wet/inter)

Rating: 7

Magnussen had a lacklustre qualifying and complained about struggling to get the tyres working. But while he had what might be termed an unobtrusive race, finishing 14th, at times he showed a very good turn of pace.

In a tricky-to-drive Renault, in low grip conditions, you're on a hiding to nothing, especially given the bold early switch to intermediates didn't work out.

30 JOLYON PALMER
Renault RS16

Start: 16th
Finish: DNF
Strategy: wet/inter/wet/retired

Rating: 6

Seemingly buoyed by having a Renault deal in his pocket for 2017, Palmer took an aggressive approach to qualifying. It served him well in Q1, but less well in Q2 as he suffered several lock-ups.

His race was shortlived as he clattered into the side of Kvyat. While circumstances and dire visibility played a big part in that, he still has to carry some responsibility for it.

26 DANIIL KVYAT
Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR11

Start: 14th
Finish: 13th
Strategy: 2 stops (wet/inter/inter/wet)

Rating: 7

It's difficult to judge Kvyat's performance, as after a decent qualifying drive to beat Sainz by a couple of tenths he spent much of the race with a damaged car.

On top of that, a puncture cost him positions, so he was never really in with a chance of making progress. Kvyat looked decent during the first four laps of green running, so he gets the benefit of the doubt.

55 CARLOS SAINZ JR
Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR11

Start: 15th
Finish: 6th
Strategy: 0 stops (wet/wet)

Rating: 9

Sainz gave away a couple of tenths to Kvyat in qualifying, but turned things around spectacularly on Sunday. He showed sound judgement to avoid the temptation to switch to intermediates, and was rewarded by climbing as high as fourth.

The Spaniard lost two positions in the closing stages to Verstappen and Vettel, but to show similar pace overall to the Force Indias demonstrated how well he was driving.

9 MARCUS ERICSSON
Sauber-Ferrari C35

Start: 20th
Finish: DNF
Strategy: wet/inter/retired

Rating: 4

Ericsson had a difficult weekend at Interlagos. There wasn't anything especially wrong with qualifying, as he edged Nasr, but his race was shortlived.

He was the first driver in race conditions to lose it and crash, and was baffled by the fact the grip level in the corners was fine, but the wets simply weren't clearing enough standing water on the straights.

12 FELIPE NASR
Sauber-Ferrari C35

Start: 21st
Finish: 9th
Strategy: 0 stops (wet/wet)

Rating: 9

Nasr qualified adequately, just behind Ericsson. But in the race, he starred. He climbed into the top 10 during the brief five-lap green flag stint between laps eight and 12 and drove immaculately after that.

He did particularly well to know when he was beaten as faster cars came through, and the reward for an intelligent performance in tough conditions was his first points in over a year.

14 FERNANDO ALONSO
McLaren-Honda MP4-31

Start: 10th
Finish: 10th
Strategy: 1 stop (wet/inter/wet)

Rating: 8

While Alonso grabbed the headlines on Friday with his trackside antics after stopping with an ERS problem, he was very much on form when in the car.

He did a great job to get into Q3, but spinning out of eighth place at the final restart was costly. After that he recovered brilliantly to nick a point.

22 JENSON BUTTON
McLaren-Honda MP4-31

Start: 17th
Finish: 16th
Strategy: 3 stops (wet/inter/wet/inter/wet)

Rating: 4

There is a feeling of winding down surrounding Button, who failed to make Q2 and was unable to make progress in the race in conditions that he usually does well in.

Had the race moved more into intermediate tyre territory, where he excels, perhaps it would have been different. But overall, a lacklustre weekend at the scene of his 2009 title triumph.

31 ESTEBAN OCON
Manor-Mercedes MRT-05

Start: 22nd
Finish: 11th
Strategy: 0 stops (wet/wet)

Rating: 9

It was the team, rather than Ocon, that was blamed for him baulking Palmer in Q1, which relegated him to the back of the grid.

He just lost out to Wehrlein in qualifying but was in another league in the wet race. Ocon came agonisingly close to a first point, before the charging Alonso proved too fast for him to keep at bay.

94 PASCAL WEHRLEIN
Manor-Mercedes MRT-05

Start: 19th
Finish: 15th
Strategy: 1 stop (wet/wet/wet)

Rating: 5

Wehrlein shaded it in the intra-team battle in qualifying, albeit by just five-thousandths of a second. But in the race he struggled badly, with his pace generally around 1.5s per lap slower than Ocon even after making a stop for fresh wets.

It was clear Wehrlein wasn't at all comfortable with the conditions, which was a surprise, but at least he finished.

8 ROMAIN GROSJEAN
Haas-Ferrari VF-16

Start: 7th
Finish: DNS
Strategy: N/A

Rating: 3

Up until half-an-hour before the race, Grosjean was having a spectacular weekend - bouncing back from qualifying last in Mexico two weeks earlier to match his best grid position of the season in seventh.

Yes, the wet conditions explain his crash while heading to the grid, but the fact is he was the only one to make such a mistake. Inexcusable.

21 ESTEBAN GUTIERREZ
Haas-Ferrari VF-16

Start: 12th
Finish: DNF
Strategy: 3 stops (wet/inter/wet/wet)

Rating: 5

Gutierrez did a decent job in qualifying and wasn't far off joining team-mate Grosjean in Q3. But the race immediately started to unravel, as when the initial safety car period ended he had a near-spin and dropped back to 19th place.

From then on, he was up against it, doubly so when electronics problems, which ultimately forced him to retire, started to set in.

Note: Discrepancy between the number of pitstops listed and the number of sets of tyres used is explained by the regulations allowing changes under the red flag. Drivers had two opportunities to make such a change and these are not considered to be pitstops.