AUTOSPORT's Spanish GP driver ratings

1 SEBASTIAN VETTEL
Red Bull-Renault RB10

Start: 15th
Finish: 4th
Strategy: 3 stops (medium/hard/medium/medium)

Rating: 9

Vettel responded superbly to the double disappointments of an electrical problem that ruined Friday and a gearbox problem that struck early in Q3 and, thanks to the resulting five-place penalty, left him 15th on the grid.

Struggled to make progress in the midfield morass, but flew after his early stop as he climbed to fourth.

Was particularly incisive clearing slower cars after the first stint, earning him the best finish possible.

Was he quite as quick as Ricciardo? Probably not, but in the circumstances a good effort.

3 DANIEL RICCIARDO
Red Bull-Renault RB10

Start: 3rd
Finish: 3rd
Strategy: 2 stops (medium/medium/hard)

Rating: 9

From the first moment of Friday practice, Ricciardo looked utterly at one with the Red Bull RB10.

"We looked like a third-place car and in the end that's what it was," was Ricciardo's very accurate summary.

Looked to have the legs of Vettel even if his team-mate hadn't hit trouble in Q3.

Only criticism is he couldn't pass Bottas on track and had to rely on undercutting him, but given the straightline speed advantage of the Williams that's hardly a crime.

6 NICO ROSBERG
Mercedes F1 W05

Start: 2nd
Finish: 2nd
Strategy: 2 stops (medium/hard/medium)

Rating: 8

Looked to be well behind on Friday, which he blamed partly on the ERS problem that curtailed his morning running.

Bounced back on Saturday, but while he appeared to have the quicker car he simply wasn't able to reach the same heights as Hamilton when it came to a balls-out lap.

Mediocre start condemned him to adopting the alternative strategy in the race and he was close to Hamilton by the finish, but even with a few more laps he would have been hard-pushed to have got past.

44 LEWIS HAMILTON
Mercedes F1 W05

Start: 1st
Finish: 1st
Strategy: 2 stops (medium/medium/hard)

Rating: 10

While Hamilton didn't have to go to the same lengths in wheel-to-wheel battle as he did in holding off Rosberg in Bahrain, this was arguably the more impressive overall performance.

He looked streets ahead of Rosberg on Friday, but was up against it in qualifying before a glorious, on-the-edge qualifying lap to snatch pole.

Once he had held the lead at the start, kept his head in a tense, race-long strategic battle.

A mature, commanding performance to win on a weekend when he might easily have lost.

7 KIMI RAIKKONEN
Ferrari F14 T

Start: 6th
Finish: 7th
Strategy: 2 stops (medium/medium/hard)

Rating: 7

Seemed a little more in control in the fast corners on Friday than his team-mate, but was wilder in the slow stuff.

While he outqualified Alonso, he admitted he was still far from comfortable with the Ferrari.

Was unhappy with the strategy adopted by his team-mate in the race, although it was Raikkonen who stayed on the optimum tactic.

The reality is, the pair was pretty evenly matched in the race and Alonso's strategic gamble gave him an advantage late on.

14 FERNANDO ALONSO
Ferrari F14 T

Start: 7th
Finish: 6th
Strategy: 3 stops (medium/medium/hard/medium)

Rating: 7

The home hero was shaded by his team-mate in qualifying and in the race couldn't get track position before switching to a three-stop strategy thanks to his struggles with tyre degradation.

This move paid off, leaving him on the faster medium tyre in the final stint of the race.

This allowed him to chase down Raikkonen and, in a well-measured move that relied upon a strong run through Turn 3, a corner where Alonso excels, use his extra grip to get ahead.

8 ROMAIN GROSJEAN
Lotus-Renault E22

Start: 5th
Finish: 8th
Strategy: 2 stops (medium/medium/hard)

Rating: 8

Grosjean didn't always look completely comfortable at the wheel of the E22, but when it really counted he drove superbly.

Fifth, on merit, in qualifying shows that the car has strong pace and he would have finished ahead of both Ferraris in the race but for a sensor problem that slowed him during the second stint.

Even then, he avoided falling into the clutches of the Force Indias.

An excellent performance in a car that, while improved, still looked a handful at times.

13 PASTOR MALDONADO
Lotus-Renault E22

Start: 22nd
Finish: 15th
Strategy: 2 stops (medium/medium/hard)

Rating: 3

There were times during the weekend when Maldonado looked to have a better handle on the Lotus than his team-mate.

But what he didn't need to do was shunt at Turn 3 on his first Q1 lap.

He suspected low tyre pressures were to blame for the mid-corner moment that spat him wide and led to him losing it on the green paint, but a more circumspect approach might have served him better.

His race was fine, save for hitting Ericsson's Caterham needlessly early on.

22 JENSON BUTTON
McLaren-Mercedes MP4-29

Start: 8th
Finish: 11th
Strategy: 2 stops (medium/medium/hard)

Rating: 5

Button was hopeful that the McLaren might be a little better in Spain than it had been in China, but the net result was much the same as he was unable to score.

Did a good job in qualifying to get the car into Q3, with fresh rubber offering the extra grip needed to mask some of the downforce deficit.

In the race, he did have a shot at points, but a poor first lap, dropping to 13th, meant he was left with too much to do.

20 KEVIN MAGNUSSEN
McLaren-Mercedes MP4-29

Start: 14th
Finish: 12th
Strategy: 2 stops (medium/medium/hard)

Rating: 5

After a difficult time in recent races, the Dane had a decent run through practice, though an ERS problem during qualifying prevented him from participating in Q2.

Was perhaps a little too aggressive on the first lap, first taking to the grass then running wide at Turn 13 while trying to find a way around his team-mate and losing a place.

After that, drove well and finished right behind Button in what was probably a par result.

27 NICO HULKENBERG
Force India-Mercedes VJM07

Start: 10th
Finish: 10th
Strategy: 2 stops (medium/medium/hard)

Rating: 6

During practice, Hulkenberg characteristically was working the rear of the car a little harder than team-mate Perez.

This made him a bit faster, as qualifying attested, but in the race it was harder on the tyres.

Hulkenberg traditionally has to work hard on rear tyre management and in the race Perez had a slight edge.

The German's race was effectively a private battle with his team-mate, one he lost when he was passed in the middle stint while battling tyre degradation.

11 SERGIO PEREZ
Force India-Mercedes VJM07

Start: 11th
Finish: 9th
Strategy: 2 stops (medium/hard/medium)

Rating: 7

On a weekend when the characteristics of the circuit showed up some of the weaknesses of the Force India, Perez was slightly behind his team-mate on single-lap pace as shown by his qualifying performance.

But he was a little better on tyre management during the race.

This, combined with an excellent stint on the hard tyre in the middle of the race, allowed him to catch and pass Hulkenberg to win the intra-team battle.

21 ESTEBAN GUTIERREZ
Sauber-Ferrari C33

Start: 13th
Finish: 16th
Strategy: 3 stops (medium/medium/hard/medium)

Rating: 7

With the weight advantage he previously had over his team-mate significantly mitigated, although not removed entirely, it's easier to compare Gutierrez to Sutil.

By that yardstick, the Mexican had a decent weekend, beating him by two tenths in qualifying and heading him in the race.

Gave it a go on the first lap and briefly climbed as high as 11th before reality kicked in and he dropped back.

Even so, it was a decent weekend's work in a limited car.

99 ADRIAN SUTIL
Sauber-Ferrari C33

Start: 16th
Finish: 17th
Strategy: 2 stops (medium/medium/hard)

Rating: 5

Sutil was delighted to have a new, lighter Sauber with associated performance upgrades, although he was still a little over the weight limit thanks to the unchangeable dimensions of his body.

Beaten by Gutierrez by two tenths in Q1, he struggled badly with tyres overheating.

There's not much you can say about his race performance, save that it reflected the lack of competitiveness of the Sauber although he could not catch and pass Gutierrez.

25 JEAN-ERIC VERGNE
Toro Rosso-Renault STR9

Start: 21st
Finish: DNF
Strategy: retired (hard/medium/retired)

Rating: 6

Vergne's weekend was effectively ruined by a 10-place grid penalty as a result of his right-rear wheel flying off during practice two courtesy of the team failing to attach it properly.

Battled a brake problem during the first stint before his race ended prematurely with an exhaust problem.

Sixth place in Q1 was somewhat illusory as Vergne used two sets of mediums knowing he wouldn't bother running in Q2, but gave a hint of the Q3 pace he reckoned he had.

Very unfortunate.

26 DANIIL KVYAT
Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR9

Start: 13th
Finish: 14th
Strategy: 3 stops (medium/medium/hard/medium)

Rating: 5

This was probably the trickiest weekend of Kvyat's grand prix career to date.

He was characteristically hard on himself after a disappointing showing in qualifying, missing out on Q3 by 0.4s.

In the race, he did a good job in the first stint, climbing to 11th after passing Gutierrez on lap eight.

But that was as good as it got and the lack of pace and tyre management struggles told.

Points weren't possible, but probably didn't get the maximum out of the package.

19 FELIPE MASSA
Williams-Mercedes FW36

Start: 9th
Finish: 13th
Strategy: 3 stops (medium/medium/hard/medium)

Rating: 4

Things looked very encouraging for Massa on Friday, during which he exploited the pace of the car beautifully.

Looked to have a slight edge on Bottas in qualifying, but a mistake at Turn 10 on his Q3 lap relegated him to ninth.

Couldn't make the tyres last during the race and quickly faded from the points picture.

Hard to say how much he should be blamed, but had he not made the error in qualifying his race might have been very different.

77 VALTTERI BOTTAS
Williams-Renault FW36

Start: 4th
Finish: 5th
Strategy: 2 stops (medium/medium/hard)

Rating: 8

Bottas had to modify his approach having struggled to hustle the Williams to the kind of laptimes Massa managed early in the weekend.

When it really mattered, he drove superbly in qualifying which, combined with a good start to run third, laid the foundations for his fifth place.

Would have been hard-pressed to hold Vettel back, but made it easy by allowing himself to be ambushed late on.

But it's unfair to hold that against him too much on an otherwise strong weekend.

17 JULES BIANCHI
Marussia-Ferrari MR-03

Start: 18th
Finish: 18th
Strategy: 2 stops (medium/medium/hard)

Rating: 7

A mistake in qualifying when he locked up at Turn 10 after braking 15 metres later than he had previously ruined a lap that he reckoned would have been at least seven tenths faster.

That put him behind Chilton, but he made a good start to get ahead of his team-mate.

And that was about all that was possible, for the Saubers that finished ahead were slightly quicker.

Qualifying mistake was a negative, but the race drive was excellent.

4 MAX CHILTON
Marussia-Ferrari MR-03

Start: 17th
Finish: 19th
Strategy: 3 stops (medium/medium/medium/hard)

Rating: 6

Chilton found pace coming more easily to him when he didn't try to force the issue, despite parking his Marussia in the gravel trap a couple of times during practice.

In qualifying, he strung together a good lap to beat Bianchi by six tenths but a poor start made life difficult.

The 40.691s gap to his team-mate was partly a result of switching to a three-stopper, itself a consequence of getting stuck behind Kobayashi in the first stint.

Good qualifying, OK race.

9 MARCUS ERICSSON
Caterham-Renault CT05

Start: 19th
Finish: 20th
Strategy: 2 stops (medium/medium/hard)

Rating: 5

Outqualified Kobayashi for the first time, and although the Japanese was struggling for grip, that was a good achievement for the rookie in equal machinery.

Was lined up behind Kobayashi on the first lap of the race when he was hit by Maldonado, which dropped him to last.

The stewards took a dim view of Maldonado's over-ambitious move, hitting him with a five-second penalty.

From there, Ericsson battled understeer in the quick stuff and oversteer in the slow stuff on his way to last. Respectable enough.

10 KAMUI KOBAYASHI
Caterham-Renault CT05

Start: 20th
Finish: DNF
Strategy: retired (medium/medium/retired)

Rating: 5

Kobayashi had a troubled weekend, struggling throughout for grip.

After keeping Chilton's faster Marussia behind him during the first stint, eventually retired with a brake problem after showing some decent pace at times during the race.

Traffic did hinder him a little in qualifying, although to his credit he didn't over-egg that excuse, but balance problems made it difficult.

A hard weekend but deserves credit for sticking at it.