We rate the drivers after the Japanese GP

1. Sebastian Vettel	9/10
Started: 1st Finished: 1st Strategy: 2 stops (soft-hard-hard) It was a flawless weekend for Vettel, although such was the advantage that Red Bull had around Suzuka that it wasn't the most hard-fought victory he'll ever take. His task was made easier when neither Fernando Alonso nor Mark Webber survived the start unscathed. From then on, it was just a case of controlling the race.
2. Mark Webber	7/10
Started: 2nd Finished: 9th Strategy: 2 stops (soft-hard-hard) Given Red Bull's dominance, the only question was which front-row slot Webber would end up in, but his team-mate pipped him to the pole position by 0.151s. Despite his fury at Romain Grosjean for booting him into a spin, Webber pulled off a decent recovery drive, which included some neat passing moves, to salvage points.
3. Jenson Button	8/10
Started: 8th Finished: 4th Strategy: 2 stops (soft-hard-hard) Considering he headed into the weekend with a five-place grid penalty looming over him for a gearbox change and the McLaren wasn't as strong as was expected, Button did a decent job to take fourth. He outdid his struggling team-mate as well, and arguably with a perfect race run he would have been able to make the podium..
4. Lewis Hamilton	6/10
Started: 9th Finished: 5th Strategy: 2 stops (soft-hard-hard) Hamilton had a slice of bad luck in qualifying with the timing of Kimi Raikkonen's spin, but was far from happy with the car after a set-up misjudgement. "We just made a mistake, and now we are stuck with it," he said after qualifying. That certainly held true in the race, which proved solid but unspectacular.
5. Fernando Alonso	4/10
Started: 6th Finished: DNF Strategy: 0 stops (soft-retired) If Alonso doesn't win a third world championship this year, Suzuka is likely to go down as the race where he lost it. The second of two small jinks to the left at the start carried him into Kimi Raikkonen's Lotus, sending him spinning out of the race with a left-rear puncture. A small mistake, but a costly one.
6. Felipe Massa	9/10
Started: 10th Finished: 2nd Strategy: 2 stops (soft-hard-hard) Having looked a genuine threat to Fernando Alonso during practice, Massa blamed the ever-convenient bad set of tyres for failing to make Q2. However, he emerged from the shenanigans at the start in fourth and showed a very lively turn of pace in the race, effortlessly jumping Kamui Kobayashi and Jenson Button in the first stops. An excellent drive.
7. Michael Schumacher	6/10
Started: 23rd Finished: 11th Strategy: 2 stops (hard-soft-soft) A 10-place penalty forced Schumacher to save tyres in qualifying in the knowledge that even with a fair wind he was unlikely to start higher than the 10th row. He scraped into Q2 after a good lap on hard tyres. In the race, he did his best to haul the recalcitrant Mercedes into the top 10, but he couldn't unlock Daniel Ricciardo's defences late on.
8. Nico Rosberg	5/10
Started: 13th Finished: DNF Strategy: 0 stops (soft-retired) A weekend to forget for Rosberg. While the Mercedes was all over the place at Suzuka, the fact that Michael Schumacher was a tenth and a half faster than him in qualifying proved that he should have done better. His race lasted only seconds as he was tagged by Bruno Senna in the start melee, so he had no chance to redeem himself.
9. Kimi Raikkonen	7/10
Started: 7th Finished: 6th Strategy: 2 stops (soft-hard-hard) Raikkonen's qualifying performance was underwhelming, with him once again ending up behind his team-mate after a spin at Spoon Curve late in Q3. In the race, the Lotus didn't show a remarkable turn of speed, but after surviving his moment with Fernando Alonso on the first lap, the Finn had a solid race. He arguably should have done enough to beat Lewis Hamilton, though.
10. Romain Grosjean	4/10
Started: 4th Finished: 19th Strategy: 2 stops (soft-hard-hard) When you're two races into your comeback after a ban for causing a shunt at the start, you need to be squeaky clean. Grosjean's qualifying performance was strong, but he was too busy watching Sergio Perez to anticipate the fact that Mark Webber was in the firing line. That one misjudgement defined his entire weekend. It needs to stop.
11. Paul di Resta	5/10
Started: 11th Finished: 12th Strategy: 2 stops (soft-hard-hard) A shunt on Friday after dropping a wheel onto the grass at the entry to Spoon Curve was unnecessary, and set di Resta back for the weekend. Shaded by Nico Hulkenberg in qualifying and a clutch problem for the race meant that he made a slow start and was up against it. Ended up cast adrift from the points contenders despite flashes of pace.
12. Nico Hulkenberg	8/10
Started: 15th Finished: 7th Strategy: 2 stops (soft-hard-hard) Hulkenburg rose from 15th to an impressive seventh over the course of the race to pick up six points. He reported that his car felt strong throughout the race, and after avoiding the first-lap incidents he was able to chase both Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen to the chequered flag.
14. Kamui Kobayashi	10/10
Started: 3rd Finished: 3rd Strategy: 2 stops (soft-hard-hard) To claim his maiden podium finish despite the pressure of the home crowd, with his future at Sauber in doubt and Jenson Button closing in on him late on required a drive of the highest calibre from Kobayashi. The car was strong and Sergio Perez showed potentially better race pace before going off, but Kobayashi was rock solid all weekend.
15. Sergio Perez	4/10
Started: 5th Finished: DNF Strategy: 1 stop (soft-hard-retired) Perez demonstrated why McLaren has taken a risk in signing him, despite his prodigious promise. He was three-tenths behind team-mate Kamui Kobayashi in qualifying and his ill-advised moves around the outside of Kimi Raikkonen at Turn 1 and, terminally, Lewis Hamilton at the hairpin showed that he still makes mistakes. On the plus side, his late-braking move to pass Hamilton early in the race was impressive.
16. Daniel Ricciardo	10/10
Started: 14th Finished: 10th Strategy: 2 stops (soft-soft-hard) As usual, the Australian outqualified Jean-Eric Vergne, but it was in the race that he really distinguished himself. He held his own against the likes of Mark Webber in battle, but most impressive was his final stint. Seemingly certain to lose 10th, he kept Michael Schumacher at bay brilliantly to take a point that owed more to driver than car.
17. Jean-Eric Vergne	4/10
Started: 19th Finished: 13th Strategy: 2 stops (hard-soft-soft) Vergne found a new way to be unimpressive in qualifying, combining being outqualified by Daniel Ricciardo for the 12th time with getting in the way of Bruno Senna, among others. The result was a three-place grid penalty. This put Vergne on the back foot, and an alternative strategy, in the race and he never really recovered.
18. Pastor Maldonado	8/10
Started: 12th Finished: 8th Strategy: 2 stops (soft-soft-hard) The Williams didn't prove particularly strong on single-lap pace, but Maldonado capitalised on the start chaos to jump to ninth place and hung around in much the same position all race. He mixed it well against others and seemed to get more competitive as the race went on, keeping the charging Mark Webber at bay.
19. Bruno Senna	5/10
Started: 16th Finished: 14th Strategy: 3 stops (soft-hard-hard-soft) Senna's pace was pretty good after he had pitted for a new front wing and then served a drive-through penalty. But good pace after mishaps is of limited use. The team was a little surprised at his penalty for hitting Nico Rosberg at the start, and Senna could legitimately blame Jean-Eric Vergne for missing Q2, but there's a worrying pattern emerging.
20. Heikki Kovalainen	7/10
Started: 17th Finished: 15th Strategy: 2 stops (soft-hard-hard) Other than amusing himself battling with the quicker lower-midfield cars in the early stages, this was yet another regulation weekend for the Finn. He went about as quick as a Caterham should be going, had a go at a one-stopper and still had a comfortable gap to Timo Glock. Accomplished, but didn't have a great deal to race for.
21. Vitaly Petrov	5/10
Started: 22nd Finished: 17th Strategy: 2 stops (soft-hard-soft) This was far from Petrov's best weekend of the season, making a big mistake on his qualifying lap and ending up eight-tenths behind Heikki Kovalainen. Didn't have a great race, although a KERS failure largely explained his pace deficit. Perhaps a lack of interest was to blame for him being hit with a drive-through penalty for missing blue flags.
22. Pedro de la Rosa	7/10
Started: 20th Finished: 18th Strategy: 2 stops (soft-soft-hard) The Spaniard flew in qualifying, coming close to getting ahead of both Marussias rather than just Charles Pic. He reckoned he maybe could have found another tenth and a half, but was optimistic of his chances of racing the Marussias. This didn't prove the case, but he wasn't far off defeating the hobbled Vitaly Petrov and got pretty much the most out of very limited machinery.
23. Narain Karthikeyan	5/10
Started: 24th Finished: DNF Strategy: 1 stop (soft-soft-retired) Karthikeyan was lacking a few tenths to Pedro de la Rosa in raw pace, but condemned himself to a weekend at the back by going off at Degner 1 on Saturday morning and damaging his latest-spec floor, forcing a switch to the old one. He kept de la Rosa in sight before retiring with a loose floor stay.
24. Timo Glock	8/10
Started: 18th Finished: 16th Strategy: 2 stops (soft-hard-hard) This was a very standard weekend for Glock, whose Marussia didn't have the pace to bother a well-driven Caterham but was fast enough to keep the HRTs at bay. He made a pretty good fist of taking on Heikki Kovalainen, though, ending up just eight seconds behind. Did overrun his pit during his final stop, however.
25. Charles Pic	6/10
Started: 21st Finished: DNF Strategy: 2 stops (hard-soft-hard) A gap of a couple of tenths to Timo Glock in qualifying was very respectable on his Suzuka debut. Pic raced solidly, but didn't make it to the end after being hit by an engine problem. Gained a black mark in free practice for impeding Lewis Hamilton, although the team shared the blame in that and was hit with a fine.