We rate the drivers after the Abu Dhabi GP

Red Bull-Renault RB9
Start: 2nd
Finish: 1st
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/medium/medium)
Rating: 9

On race day, Vettel was utterly imperious. Having jumped Webber at the start, he was two seconds clear at the end of the first lap and never looked back. His eventual winning margin of half a minute was pretty much built by half-distance and he could probably have won by twice that much.

On the downside, Vettel did underachieve in qualifying, which allowed Webber to pip him to pole position for the second time in three races. That denies him a perfect score.

Red Bull-Renault RB9
Start: 1st
Finish: 2nd
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/medium/medium)
Rating: 7

Were Vettel not in the picture, this would appear to be a great drive for Webber. He took pole position after working hard on adapting his driving style to the combination of the car and one of his least favourite tracks.

Then, after a poor getaway, dealing with pressure from Grosjean in the first stint before passing Rosberg for what would have been, in a Vettel-less world, the lead. But Vettel was there, relegating Webber's drive to 'merely' good.

Ferrari F138
Start: 10th
Finish: 5th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/medium/soft)
Rating: 7

This was one of those weekends during which it was hard to be certain whether Alonso was operating at 100 per cent.

While the effort always remains, the thinking side of his game can suffer if he's not fully motivated and he made hard work of beating team-mate Massa in the race. That said, he still came out of the weekend with a strong result and by extending his tyre life well, he was able to get ahead of the Brazilian in the pits.

Ferrari F138
Start: 7th
Finish: 8th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/medium/medium)
Rating: 7

Did a very good job in qualifying to beat Alonso for the eighth time this season. His race performance was also strong, showing he had no intention of yielding to his team-mate.

What cost him a better result was not being able to make the mediums last as long as Alonso. Complained about being put on mediums rather than softs at the last pitstop and, while he may have made it, it was a legitimate, if borderline, decision.

McLaren-Mercedes MP4-28
Start: 12th
Finish: 12th
Strategy: 2 stops (medium/soft/medium)
Rating: 4

Not for the first time, Button could not get to grips with the car in the conditions that mattered, ending up with a set-up designed to counteract oversteer in the dropping track temperatures that left him with an unstable rear end.

Compounded his problem by hitting di Resta at Turn 1, forcing an early stop for a new front wing. Performance after that was respectable, but the damage was done and he never quite got into points contention.

McLaren-Mercedes MP4-28
Start: 8th
Finish: 9th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/medium/medium)
Rating: 7

The Mexican continued his good work from India by comfortably outqualifying Button, lapping four tenths faster than his team-mate in advancing to Q3. His race was hard work, largely because he spent chunks of it battling in traffic in the lower reaches of the top 10.

While you could perhaps argue the pace was in the car to finish a place or two higher, tyre degradation was a problem so it was a decent drive, especially as he passed Sutil on the final lap.

Lotus-Renault E21
Start: 22nd
Finish: DNF
Strategy: retired (medium)
Rating: 5

Raikkonen returned to the short-wheelbase Lotus for the first time since Singapore in search of a more responsive front end. The result was his best qualifying performance since July's German GP, only to be cast to the back of the grid when his floor failed the flexible bodywork test.

Ill-advisedly left his nose up the inside of van der Garde at Turn 1 and clipped the Caterham in correcting when the rear broke traction slightly. A rare driver error.

Lotus-Renault E21
Start: 6th
Finish: 4th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/medium/medium)
Rating: 8

Grosjean's qualifying was ruined by an upshift problem that lost him seamless shift and put the gearbox into safe mode, costing him a significant amount of time in qualifying.

That made life difficult for him in the race, but after shunning the anticipated one-stop strategy, Grosjean was able to settle into fourth place. Was not quite able to close down Rosberg in order to make a play for the podium. But for the gearchange problem on Saturday, third was likely.

Mercedes F1 W04
Start: 3rd
Finish: 3rd
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/medium/medium)
Rating: 8

While Rosberg didn't look to have quite the raw speed of his team-mate, his thoughtful approach through practice and qualifying earned him a solid third on the grid, albeit aided by Hamilton's suspension problem.

He made a good start to run second and while he couldn't keep Webber behind him, he did a very capable job in the race to keep Grosjean at arm's length.

Mercedes F1 W04
Start: 4th
Finish: 7th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/medium/medium)
Rating: 5

Lived up to his reputation as an Abu Dhabi specialist, hustling the Mercedes through the twists and turns of the Yas Marina circuit beautifully. He might even have challenged the Red Bulls but for a right-rear wishbone failure on his last Q3 lap, which left him fourth on the grid.

Struggled badly in the race and seemed powerless to arrest his slide, fading to three quarters of a minute behind Rosberg, suggesting he far from made the best of it.

Sauber-Ferrari C32
Start: 5th
Finish: 14th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/medium/medium)
Rating: 8

If there's anyone left who needs convincing about Hulkenberg's class, the fact he once again got pretty much the maximum out of the Sauber in both qualifying and the race should be compelling.

His 14th place was a consequence of Sauber foolishly releasing him from a pitstop into the path of Perez, costing him a likely fifth or sixth place. After his drive-through, he was buried in traffic so recovery was impossible.

Sauber-Ferrari C32
Start: 16th
Finish: 13th
Strategy: 2 stops (medium/soft/medium)
Rating: 5

Falling in Q1 looked like a return to the bad old days for Gutierrez. There were mitigating factors, notably his failure to complete a cool-down lap in his final run after getting caught up in traffic, but had he nailed his first lap he would have made Q2 comfortably as his raw pace was probably two to three tenths off Hulkenberg.

The poor grid position proved costly, meaning he spent much of the race stuck in the midfield.

Force India-Mercedes VJM06
Start: 11th
Finish: 6th
Strategy: 1 stop (soft/medium)
Rating: 8

Had a far smoother run through the weekend than his team-mate and qualified well. That said, his best sector times suggested it might have been possible to pip Alonso to 10th place.

But his race drive was hard to fault as he executed a one-stopper to perfection. While he did lose a place to Alonso late on, the Ferrari was on softer, younger rubber, so he was better served letting him go and ensuring he kept Hamilton behind.

Force India-Mercedes VJM06
Start: 17th
Finish: 10th
Strategy: 1 stop (medium/soft)
Rating: 7

After a difficult run through practice, Sutil was not particularly happy with the balance of the car and fell in Q1 after lapping four tenths off di Resta.

But to his credit, he was able to make a one-stop strategy work, although with his soft tyres having to last half of the race he was struggling late on and was unable to keep Perez behind on the final lap. A decent weekend, but not at di Resta's level.

Williams-Renault FW35
Start: 14th
Finish: 11th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/medium/medium)
Rating: 7

Looked to have good one-lap pace and by Williams's standards 14th on the grid was perfectly respectable, but Q3 was possible had he produced a better lap. That said, Williams's run-plan in Q2 played a big part in that failure.

Battled valiantly in the race, coming pretty close to scoring a point for the second time this year and ended up within three seconds of Sutil. While you can make an argument for such a small gap being made up, it was a decent result.

Williams-Renault FW35
Start: 15th
Finish: 15th
Strategy: 2 stops (medium/medium/soft)
Rating: 6

The Finn was a little underwhelming in Q2 and ended up just behind Maldonado, largely because he struggled with tyre temperatures. On paper, his race result is poor, but what it all boiled down to was a bad start.

Dropping behind the Caterhams cost him a heap of time in the first eight laps and the 10-second deficit to Maldonado at the chequered flag was basically down to that. A good example of how one mistake can be very costly.

Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR8
Start: 13th
Finish: 17th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/medium/medium)
Rating: 6

In many ways, Vergne's weekend sums up the way his season has gone. Qualifying was going fine until a big rear lock-up at Turn 8 cost him time on his key Q2 lap, leaving him four tenths off Ricciardo.

His attempted one-stopper looked promising, but realistically he was some way off being able to make it work, meaning he lost a heap of time before then having to stop with three laps to go. Net result was no result.

Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR8
Start: 9th
Finish: 16th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/medium/medium)
Rating: 6

The Australian was far from happy during practice, but was still able to pull a good qualifying effort out of the bag to line up on the fifth row.

But come the race, he was utterly anonymous after tumbling to 16th thanks to a combination of a poor getaway and having to run wide at the first corner while trying to stabilise his position. Proved unable to make much of an impression after that, although did beat the unfortunate Vergne.

Caterham-Renault CT03
Start: 19th
Finish: 19th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/medium/medium)
Rating: 5

There was nothing particular bad about Pic's weekend, and there was nothing particularly spectacular about it either. Wasn't too pleased to be ordered to wave van der Garde past, but it was shown to be the right decision by the fact he quickly dropped back.

On the plus side, made a decent start and was briefly ahead of Bottas, but was not happy with the car balance all weekend. Pace was at least better in the final stint.

Caterham-Renault CT03
Start: 18th
Finish: 18th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/medium/medium)
Rating: 8

A strong weekend from van der Garde, who outpaced Pic both in qualifying and the race despite complaining about di Resta compromising his qualifying to the tune of around three tenths. In the race, his pace relative to Pic in the second stint led to the team ordering him ahead.

The Dutchman continued to show good speed, beating Pic by over 10 seconds. Was guiltless in the Raikkonen crash and certainly the stronger Caterham driver in Abu Dhabi.

Marussia-Cosworth MR-02
Start: 21st
Finish: 20th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/medium/medium)
Rating: 7

Gets a free pass for his Saturday morning crash (which damaged the gearbox necessitating a change and a grid penalty) as it was caused by a suspension problem.

Had only one serious attempt in Q1 thanks to a KERS problem on his first run and nailed a fine lap, albeit not quite good enough to beat van der Garde. While he was disappointed with the pace of the car in the race, and didn't have the speed to challenge the Caterhams, he shaded Chilton.

Marussia-Cosworth MR-02
Start: 20th
Finish: 21st
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/medium/medium)
Rating: 7

The 0.8s deficit to Bianchi in Q1 looked poor, but Chilton's claim that a failed DRS and having three laps of fuel versus his team-mate's one in qualifying exaggerated the gap holds water.

Hard to judge his assertion it was his best qualifying lap of the year, although it was certainly a good effort. His race pace was good, only a fraction off Bianchi, ending up within five seconds of his team-mate - all of which adds up to a decent weekend's work.