We rate the drivers after the Australian GP

Red Bull-Renault RB9
Start: 1st
Finish: 3rd
Strategy: 3 stops (super-soft/medium/medium/medium)
Rating: 7

There were a lot of things to like about Vettel's weekend. His pace straight out of the box was impressive and his pole position lap in tricky conditions was inevitable. That said, it was far from the optimum lap as his own split times proved.

The qualifying pace advantage didn't carry into the race and given the effect that both Red Bulls had on the Pirelli rubber, third place was about par on a frustrating day for Vettel.

Red Bull-Renault RB9
Start: 2nd
Finish: 6th
Strategy: 3 stops (super-soft/medium/medium/medium)
Rating: 6

Nobody had more pressure on their shoulders going into the weekend than the home hero. But don't jump to the conclusion that his poor start was a consequence of this.

It was actually down to a telemetry failure that meant the team was flying blind in terms of start preparation, a problem compounded by the KERS breaking. His final stint was as good as identical to that of Vettel, proving that his race pace was there even if qualifying speed wasn't.

Ferrari F138
Start: 5th
Finish: 2nd
Strategy: 3 stops (super-soft/medium/medium/medium)
Rating: 8

For the third consecutive race, Alonso was outqualified by Felipe Massa, albeit only by three thousandths of a second. But given the Brazilian's resurgence, that is not as damning a statistic as it once would have been.

His race drive was typically tenacious, jumping Massa with a proactive early second stop, although ultimately the Ferrari wasn't kind enough to its tyres to attack Kimi Raikkonen. But Alonso did comfortably beat Vettel in a straight fight, something that is never easy.

Ferrari F138
Start: 4th
Finish: 4th
Strategy: 3 stops (super-soft/medium/medium/medium)
Rating: 7

The new-look (or should that be old) Massa proved that he is here to stay by shading Alonso in qualifying and giving his team-mate a hard time in the first half of the race.

Despite suggestions that Ferrari did him over strategically to help Alonso, Massa's race pace was, in reality, not quite as strong as his team-mate's, which was reflected by the eventual gap between the pair. But if he keeps up this level of performance, Massa's Ferrari future looks bright.

McLaren-Mercedes MP4-28
Start: 10th
Finish: 9th
Strategy: 3 stops (super-soft/medium/medium/medium)
Rating: 8

It's difficult to evaluate Button's performance accurately now that the usual barometer - Lewis Hamilton - has defected to Mercedes. The McLaren is an average car at best right now, but Button did make the most of wet conditions to haul it as high as fourth in Q2, even though the good work was undone by his Q3 run starting bafflingly early.

In the race, he kept his nose clean and given the pace of the Force India, ninth was probably the maximum. A decent result given the machinery.

McLaren-Mercedes MP4-28
Start: 15th
Finish: 11th
Strategy: 3 stops (medium/super-soft/medium/medium)
Rating: 7

Amid the hullabaloo about McLaren struggles, it escaped most people's notice that Perez finished the race within two seconds of Button. Given that some have tipped him to sink without track at his new team, this was a quietly impressive performance.

Less impressive was persevering with the slick tyres that he bolted on in Q2 rather than returning to intermediates, although given that he had nothing to lose it perhaps shows commendable fighting spirit. Will be kicking himself for not beating the hobbled Romain Grosjean though.

Lotus-Renault E21
Start: 7th
Finish: 1st
Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/medium/medium)
Rating: 9

By his own admission, qualifying wasn't perfect, even though it's hard to see that Raikkonen would have been able to pick up more than the odd place without the mistake on his final Q3 lap.

He referred to his victory as easy, but often a driver executing his strategy to perfection can make it feel that way and he deserves huge credit for his performance, particularly the efficiency with which he passed ailing cars in the first stint.

Lotus-Renault E21
Start: 8th
Finish: 10th
Strategy: 3 stops (super-soft/medium/medium/medium)
Rating: 5

Did what he needed to do in qualifying, avoiding mistakes to back up team-mate Raikkonen on the fourth row. But his race never really got going. A bad start relegated him to 11th and he never showed anything like the pace of his team-mate even when he had a tyre advantage thanks to having to go for a three-stopper.

The team is investigating whether his lacklustre run to a point was down to the car problem Grosjean suspected or just high tyre wear in traffic.

Mercedes F1 W04
Start: 6th
Finish: DNF
Strategy: retired lap 26 (super-soft/medium/DNF)
Rating: 7

Eyebrows were raised when Rosberg thumped team-mate Hamilton during both Q1 and Q2, although it later emerged that he had been running more wing to suit the damp conditions better.

Had qualifying been completed, his prediction of being on the front row could have come true, but in the dry he ended up over four tenths off his team-mate. Raced well and was only a few seconds behind Hamilton when an electrical problem, which had already cost him time, forced him out.

Mercedes F1 W04
Start: 3rd
Finish: 5th
Strategy: 3 stops (super-soft/medium/medium/medium)
Rating: 8

There were a few wild moments for Hamilton, who took to the grass a couple of times in practice and was fortunate to survive backing the car into the wall at Turn 2 during Q1 without more damage, but he certainly revelled in his new surroundings.

Looked on for a big result when both he and Rosberg made the super-softs last well, but the car was harder on the mediums, leaving Hamilton to keep Webber at bay for a strong fifth.

Sauber-Ferrari C32
Start: 11th
Finish: DNS
Strategy: N/A
Rating: 7

It sums up Hulkenberg's misfortune that not only is he still in a midfield outfit when he obviously merits a race-winning car, but he couldn't even start the Australian Grand Prix after a fuel leak was detected before the race, forcing Sauber to withdraw his car for safety reasons.

Comfortably outpaced Esteban Gutierrez when he did run, although had he started he wouldn't have taken up the Sutil role as the team planned to start on super-softs. His day will come.

Sauber-Ferrari C32
Start: 18th
Finish: 13th
Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/medium/medium)
Rating: 6

Of all the rookies in 2013, Gutierrez has the toughest task in that he is being measured against Hulkenberg. The rain in qualifying didn't help and led to Gutierrez crashing exiting Turn 12 in Q1.

But having set out his stall to finish at all costs, the Mexican brought the car home a lapped 13th. Despite slightly inconsistent pace and the fact that the team reckoned Hulkenberg would have scored, considering it was his debut, it's only fair to make a few allowances.

Force India-Mercedes VJM06
Start: 9th
Finish: 8th
Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/medium/medium)
Rating: 8

After a difficult end to the 2012 season, di Resta got things off on the right foot by qualifying a strong ninth. Unfortunately, that condemned him to starting on used rubber, burying him in the pack at a time when his team-mate was grabbing the headlines after starting on mediums.

Di Resta's race pace was pretty much the same as Sutil's, and but for the team telling him not to attack in the final few laps, he had a good chance of emerging as the lead Force India driver.

Force India-Mercedes VJM06
Start: 12th
Finish: 7th
Strategy: 2 stops (medium/medium/super-soft)
Rating: 8

Considering that Sutil spent 2012 on the sidelines and had fewer laps in testing than any other of this year's race drivers, his performance in the Australian Grand Prix was impressive.

Qualifying was so-so despite the German typically excelling in damp conditions, but thanks to being the best-placed medium-shod starter he came to the fore. While his race-leading turn was somewhat artificial, he drove well, but was always going to ship time when he went onto the super-softs.

Williams-Renault FW35
Start: 17th
Finish: DNF
Strategy: retired lap 24 (medium/medium/DNF)
Rating: 3

Maldonado branded his car "undriveable" in Australia. Unfortunately, he didn't react to his troublesome mount in the most constructive way and continued to attempt to wring impossible times out of it. Was on to make Q2 until he happened upon Max Chilton in the final sector.

His race was lairy, straightlining Turn 1 when he came across Alonso exiting the pits before dropping a wheel onto the grass on the approach to the same corner later in the race and spinning into the gravel.

Williams-Renault FW35
Start: 16th
Finish: 14th
Strategy: 3 stops (super-soft/medium/medium/medium)
Rating: 7

In the circumstances, all Bottas could do was keep his nose clean in qualifying and the race, which he almost did to perfection. He managed to scrape through into Q2 in wet conditions but could go no further, gamely gambling on a switch to slicks.

In the wet, he did have one off-track moment that cost time, without which he would have been closer to beating Gutierrez, but the troublesome Williams had no business beating a Sauber. A mature drive in adversity.

Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR8
Start: 13th
Finish: 12th
Strategy: 3 stops (super-soft/medium/medium/medium)
Rating: 6

Although his mighty pace on intermediate tyres in qualifying went unrewarded after an unsuccessful gamble (the team's, not his) on slicks, he still did enough to outqualify his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.

Given that Vergne's weakness last year was qualifying, don't underestimate how important that was. It was a case of almost, but not quite, in the race. After a difficult first stint, the race came to him and he was on for a point or two when he got over-excited and flat-spotted his tyres attacking Button.

Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR8
Start: 14th
Finish: DNF
Strategy: retired lap 40 (medium/medium/super-soft/DNF)
Rating: 4

Australia's other driver had a difficult weekend. During practice, his pace was much of a muchness in comparison to Vergne, but in both wet and intermediate conditions he struggled to match up to him.

Come the race, Ricciardo struggled with tyre temperature early on, dropping as low as 20th, and gave away too much time to his mid-pack rivals. It was a merciful release when an exhaust problem forced him to retire shortly after half-distance, ending a mediocre weekend.

Caterham-Renault CT03
Start: 22nd
Finish: 16th
Strategy: 3 stops (super-soft/medium/medium/medium)
Rating: 6

Pic must be wondering exactly what he has let himself in for at Caterham and you could excuse him for glancing enviously at the faster Marussias. Shunted in Q1 trying to stay ahead of his former team but was allowed to start despite missing the 107 per cent qualifying cut-off.

A poor start dropped him to the back, but his race pace was plenty good enough to get ahead of both his team-mate and Chilton despite a late KERS failure.

Caterham-Renault CT03
Start: 21st
Finish: 18th
Strategy: 3 stops (super-soft/medium/medium/medium)
Rating: 6

The Dutchman had a baptism of fire, with several offs punctuating his weekend. That was forgivable given that the Caterham looked by far the hardest car to drive. He came through qualifying as the team's better-placed driver thanks to Pic's crash.

Had a solid race, losing time with a puncture not long after his first pitstop. That accentuated the gap to Pic by the finish, although it's fair to say that his underlying pace wasn't as good. A solid, if uneven, debut.

Marussia-Cosworth MR02
Start: 19th
Finish: 15th
Strategy: 3 stops (super-soft/medium/medium/super-soft)
Rating: 8

The Frenchman was hugely impressive on track despite coming into the weekend with only 136 laps in the car under his belt.

Bianchi showed that Marussia wasn't too far off the midfield stragglers on race pace, bothering the likes of Maldonado in the early stages and keeping Pic well and truly at bay despite having to make an unexpected late pitstop for super-softs. His pace on the quicker tyre netted him as fast a lap as Vettel's best in the closing stages.

Marussia-Cosworth MR02
Start: 20th
Finish: 17th
Strategy: 3 stops (super-soft/medium/medium/medium)
Rating: 7

While Chilton didn't grab the attention as forcefully as his team-mate did, that wasn't a big surprise given his relative lack of Formula 1 experience. Damage to his front wing, sustained when van der Garde ran wide and rejoined just in front of him, cost time early on, as did blue flags and the time lost before eventually passing the Dutchman.

That added up to a deficit of over half a minute to Pic. Overall, a good, accomplished start for him to build on.