AUTOSPORT's British GP driver ratings

1 SEBASTIAN VETTEL
Red Bull-Renault RB10

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

Rating: 7

On the front row for only the second time this year, Vettel deserves credit for nailing a quick lap in tricky conditions in the knowledge that he didn't have a banker to fall back on.

Passing move on Alonso at Copse was glorious, but he seemed not to be as strong on tyre management as his team-mate.

Ricciardo was kicking himself on Saturday, but on the podium on Sunday © XPB

3 DANIEL RICCIARDO
Red Bull-Renault RB10

Start: 8th
Finish: 3rd
Strategy: 1 stop (medium/hard/medium)

Rating: 9

But for the fact that Ricciardo got outfumbled by Alonso early on while battling with Hulkenberg, you'd say this was an Alonso-esque weekend.

Took his share of the blame for not running when the track was at its best in Q1, but drove a measured, effective race on a one-stopper and arguably overachieved by beating Button.

6 NICO ROSBERG
Mercedes F1 W05

Start: 1st
Finish: DNF
Strategy: retired (medium/medium/retired)

Rating: 9

Rosberg didn't appear to have quite the speed to beat Hamilton on Saturday, but he played his hand perfectly in qualifying to nick pole position.

Little to criticise in the race, although did appear to lack Hamilton's sheer pace and range on the tyres and because of that was not guaranteed victory.

Hamilton delighted the home crowd © LAT

44 LEWIS HAMILTON
Mercedes F1 W05

Start: 6th
Finish: 1st
Strategy: 2 stops (medium/hard/hard)

Rating: 9

Carried the can for the qualifying blunder, but the underlying speed advantage that he appeared to have over Rosberg on Friday and Saturday carried over into the race.

Difficult to say if he would have won on merit, but it's certainly possible. Qualifying decision aside, an accomplished weekend.

7 KIMI RAIKKONEN
Ferrari F14 T

Start: 18th
Finish: DNF
Strategy: retired (hard/retired)

Rating: 4

Notwithstanding Ferrari's qualifying strategy blunder, continues to be underwhelming in terms of pace.

Race shunt was his error, as he should have been wise to the danger of the transition from asphalt run-off to grass that destabilised his car as he rejoined after going wide.

Raikkonen has a huge amount of ability, but needs to unlock it.

Alonso and Vettel's dice was a highlight of the race © LAT

14 FERNANDO ALONSO
Ferrari F14 T

Start: 16th
Finish: 6th
Strategy: 1 stop (hard/medium/medium)

Rating: 9

Qualifying was unfortunate, but that wasn't Alonso's fault and in the race he was one of the stars with brilliantly incisive passing moves and some bravura driving on past-their-best tyres.

Shame some of his good work was undone by an inability to park in the right place on the grid.

8 ROMAIN GROSJEAN
Lotus-Renault E22

Start: 11th
Finish: 12th
Strategy: 1 stop (medium/hard/medium)

Rating: 7

Had high hopes for the weekend, but while the Lotus was a little more competitive than it had been in recent races, still wasn't quite a points contender.

Given the car's pace, to only narrowly miss out on the top 10 in qualifying and by just over 10 seconds in the race was a good performance.

This time Maldonado was the victim in a collision © XPB

13 PASTOR MALDONADO
Lotus-Renault E22

Start: 20th
Finish: 17th
Strategy: 1 stop (medium/medium/hard)

Rating: 6

Wasn't quite able to extract the same level of performance out of the Lotus as his team-mate, but a fuel-load blunder in qualifying, blamed on a calculation error by Renault caused by a change of run plan, compromised his qualifying.

Loss of power and unfortunate clash with Gutierrez ruined his race.

20 KEVIN MAGNUSSEN
McLaren-Mercedes MP4-29

Start: 5th
Finish: 7th
Strategy: 2 stops (medium/medium/hard)

Rating: 8

Another accomplished weekend's work for Magnussen. Did finish 15 seconds behind team-mate Button and made a few mistakes when defending, but those were just the typical rough edges of a rookie performance.

Speed and execution were good, just fractionally less good than Button.

Button came close to finally getting a home podium © LAT

22 JENSON BUTTON
McLaren-Mercedes MP4-29

Start: 3rd
Finish: 4th
Strategy: 1 stop (medium/hard)

Rating: 9

Made the most of every opportunity presented to him. Drove an excellent qualifying lap to line up third, then produced a typically calm and collected race.

Only possible criticism is that he might have found a way to beat Ricciardo to third. Classy.

11 SERGIO PEREZ
Force India-Mercedes VJM07

Start: 7th
Finish: 11th
Strategy: 1 stop (medium/hard/medium)

Rating: 6

His mistake, running wide at Becketts on the out-lap of his final run in Q3, cost him in qualifying, while a first-corner clash with Vergne dropped him to the back for the restart.

From there, he drove OK but the pace wasn't quite there to return to the points, even though his final stint was good.

Hulkenberg was battling faster cars all day © LAT

27 NICO HULKENBERG
Force India-Mercedes VJM07

Start: 4th
Finish: 8th
Strategy: 1 stop (medium/hard)

Rating: 7

Snatched fourth on the grid by being one of only five drivers to post a time in the best of conditions in Q3, but the Force India wasn't quick enough to stay there.

Made a poor start and lost a couple of places and the car didn't have the pace to avoid slipping to eighth by the flag.

21 ESTEBAN GUTIERREZ
Sauber-Ferrari C33

Start: 19th
Finish: DNF
Strategy: retired (medium/medium/retired)

Rating: 3

Came into the weekend with a 10-place grid penalty hanging over him, then exacerbated that by losing it on the damp exit kerb at Brooklands in Q2 and backing the Sauber into the barrier at Luffield, damaging the gearbox and triggering another penalty.

Race was ruined by a barging match with Maldonado that stewards held him responsible for.

Sutil couldn't capitalise on the qualifying weather © XPB

99 ADRIAN SUTIL
Sauber-Ferrari C33

Start: 13th
Finish: 13th
Strategy: 1 stop (medium/hard)

Rating: 4

Given the conditions, might have had a chance of stealing a Q3 place, but having posted a time good enough for the second stage of qualifying, Sutil binned it at the end of Q1 and could take no further part.

Had a good, solid race, achieving a decent result given the machinery.

25 JEAN-ERIC VERGNE
Toro Rosso-Renault STR9

Start: 10th
Finish: 10th
Strategy: 1 stop (medium/hard/medium)

Rating: 8

On paper was outperformed by Kvyat, but wasn't too far behind his team-mate in the race given that he had taken the restart 17th thanks to a first-corner clash with Perez.

Recovered well to take the final point, making some good passing moves along the way.

Kvyat had a combative race © XPB

26 DANIIL KVYAT
Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR9

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

Rating: 8

Another convincing weekend for the Russian, who looked set for a career-best fifth on the grid before others made late improvements in Q3 while he sat in the pits.

Drove an accomplished race but could have finished one place higher had he found a way past Hulkenberg, who admittedly did have a power advantage.

19 FELIPE MASSA
Williams-Mercedes FW36

Start: 15th
Finish: DNF
Strategy: retired (medium/retired)

Rating: 7

The Williams Q1 strategy error left Massa down the order and an anti-stall moment at the start dropped him to last. Unsighted, he did a good job trying to miss the crashing Raikkonen, but couldn't avoid clipping him.

Performance was fine, although Bottas did outqualify him, but Massa's luck was out.

Second podium in a row for Bottas © XPB

77 VALTTERI BOTTAS
Williams-Renault FW36

Start: 14th
Finish: 2nd
Strategy: 1 stop (medium/hard)

Rating: 10

A flawless weekend from the Finn. Qualifying was a disaster, which was the team's error rather than his, but even then he had outpaced Massa by close to four tenths in intermediate conditions.

Pulled off some great passes, didn't make a mistake and was always in control on a one-stopper.

4 MAX CHILTON
Marussia-Ferrari MR-03

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

Rating: 7

Career-best qualifying performance, lapping 13th fastest before a gearbox penalty was applied, was tempered by the fact that his banker run wasn't perfect and yellow flags prevented him improving.

Race was effectively ruined by collecting a stray wheel from the Raikkonen accident, which came frighteningly close to hitting him in the head, but gave a decent enough account of himself after that.

Bianchi did his best to resist the faster cars © LAT

17 JULES BIANCHI
Marussia-Ferrari MR-03

Start: 12th
Finish: 14th
Strategy: 1 stop (medium/hard)

Rating: 9

His FP3 shunt aside, an excellent weekend. Poor strategy from others helped him earn a career-best grid slot, but Bianchi still had to do the time and strung together a much better lap than his team-mate.

Drove an intelligent race and got the best out of the car with one of his better race performances of the year.

9 MARCUS ERICSSON
Caterham-Renault CT05

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

Rating: 5

Had a few offs during qualifying, then after capitalising on the first-lap mayhem to climb to 15th soon slipped behind Kobayashi.

Not long after, ran wide at Brooklands and picked up suspension damage. An untidy weekend.

Kobayashi's car needed repairs after the Raikkonen incident © LAT

10 KAMUI KOBAYASHI
Caterham-Renault CT05

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

Rating: 6

An ERS problem that struck at the start of his second Q1 run meant he couldn't capitalise on an eventful, rain-hit session to try to climb off the back row.

Did a very good job to avoid Raikkonen's shunting Ferrari on the first lap, but picked up minor damage. Did what he could in the race and couldn't have finished higher.

NB: Drivers were permitted to change tyres under the red flag, meaning that some drivers, for example Alonso, were able to use three sets of tyres with only one stop.