Singapore Grand Prix driver ratings

1 SEBASTIAN VETTEL

Red Bull-Renault RB10

Start: 4th
Finish: 2nd
Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/super-soft/soft)

Rating: 9

Vettel looked an outside threat for pole and continued his recent trend of improving pace, even though overdriving in Q3 meant he slipped behind team-mate Ricciardo.

Red Bull had only its second double podium of the season © LAT

He drove an excellent race, avoiding the tyre management weakness that has occasionally troubled him, to take a fine second.

3 DANIEL RICCIARDO
Red Bull-Renault RB10

Start: 3rd
Finish: 3rd
Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/super-soft/soft)

Rating: 8

Gloriously committed on the streets of Singapore, Ricciardo outqualified his team-mate but a mediocre getaway meant he slipped down to fourth.

The safety car helped him to get ahead of Alonso, and once there he dealt well with battery problems to keep hold of third.

6 NICO ROSBERG
Mercedes F1 W05

Start: 2nd
Finish: DNF
Strategy: retired (super-soft/retired)

Rating: 8

Didn't look to have quite the raw pace of Hamilton, although a combination of a good lap and his team-mate losing a few tenths meant he came desperately close to pole.

Rosberg stuck around to watch the race after retiring © LAT

Rosberg did what he could in the race with no ERS, no DRS, no clutch and a troublesome gearchange - which wasn't much.

44 LEWIS HAMILTON
Mercedes F1 W05

Start: 1st
Finish: 1st
Strategy: 3 stops (super-soft/super-soft/super-soft/soft)

Rating: 10

Hamilton looked superb around Marina Bay, so much so that even with a lock-up at Turn 1 on his qualifying lap that cost a couple of tenths, he was still able to sneak pole.

He put the hammer down when he needed to and made short work of Vettel to ensure a vital victory.

7 KIMI RAIKKONEN
Ferrari F14 T

Start: 7th
Finish: 8th
Strategy: 3 stops (super-soft/super-soft/super-soft/soft)

Rating: 7

Raikkonen looked pretty close to Alonso on raw pace even though he wasn't completely happy with the balance of the car.

Although Alonso missed the podium, it was one of Ferrari's strongest races of the year © XPB

But after a decent first stint, he spent most of the rest of the race wedged behind Williams cars, which meant he couldn't make the most of his speed.

14 FERNANDO ALONSO
Ferrari F14 T

Start: 5th
Finish: 4th
Strategy:3 stops (super-soft/super-soft/super-soft/soft)

Rating: 9

Hustled a Ferrari that often had an unstable rear-end impressively throughout practice and qualifying on what was his and Ferrari's most competitive weekend of the year.

The timing of the safety car probably cost him a well-deserved podium.

8 ROMAIN GROSJEAN
Lotus-Renault E22

Start: 16th
Finish: 14th
Strategy: 3 stops (super-soft/super-soft/super-soft/soft)

Rating: 8

After qualifying, he made his frustration at being let down by the Renault power unit -which again picked up problems - very clear.

Maldonado heads a midfield pack © LAT

Did his usual decent job in the race, finishing just behind Maldonado, but the car wasn't quite up to taking points.

13 PASTOR MALDONADO
Lotus-Renault E22

Start: 18th
Finish: 13th
Strategy: 4 stops super-soft/super-soft/super-soft/super-soft/soft)

Rating: 7

Couldn't show his pace in qualifying and a needless shunt on Friday gave the team a lot of work to do rebuilding his car.

But Maldonado drove well in the race, finishing just ahead of his team-mate and even flirting with a points finish before inevitably being shuffled backwards.

20 KEVIN MAGNUSSEN
McLaren-Mercedes MP4-29

Start: 9th
Finish: 10th
Strategy: 3 stops (super-soft/soft/super-soft/super-soft)

Rating: 7

Magnussen again outpaced Button in qualifying, but was outfumbled by his team-mate in the early stages, with an optimistic move to repass him costing another place.

Magnussen dealt with extreme cockpit heat and tyre wear © LAT

Did a good job from there considering he was overheating badly, salvaging a hard-fought point.

22 JENSON BUTTON
McLaren-Mercedes MP4-29

Start: 11th
Finish: DNF
Strategy: retired (super-soft/soft/soft/retired)

Rating: 7

A lock-up and resulting wide moment at the hairpin in qualifying meant he missed out on the top 10, but Button drove his usual tidy race before being forced out of seventh place with power box problems.

Had he finished, he would likely have ended up in the top six.

11 SERGIO PEREZ
Force India-Mercedes VJM07

Start: 15th
Finish: 7th
Strategy: 4 stops (super-soft/soft/super-soft/soft/super-soft)

Rating: 7

Perez had an underwhelming qualifying session, but showed his tenacity in the race.

He was playing with fire leaving his nose overlapping Sutil's Sauber, but was unimpressed at the German's lack of a penalty.

Perez damaged his nose in a clash with Sutil © XPB

The safety car meant he got his lap back, and he did a good job from there, although luck played a part.

27 NICO HULKENBERG
Force India-Mercedes VJM07

Start: 13th
Finish: 9th
Strategy: 3 stops (super-soft/super-soft/soft/soft)

Rating: 7

Hulkenberg did a decent job in qualifying in a car that probably needed a little help to sneak into the top 10, and from there drove a strong race.

He was among those needing to complete half the race on a single set of softs after the safety car, and made a good fist of it despite losing a few places late on.

21 ESTEBAN GUTIERREZ
Sauber-Ferrari C33

Start: 14th
Finish: DNF
Strategy: retired (super-soft/super-soft/retired)

Rating: 8

The Mexican gets on very well with the Singapore street circuit, so qualified strongly.

Sutil retires to end a weekend of mechanical frustration for Sauber © LAT

This meant he was in a position at least to think about being able to nick a point before an electrical problem put him out.

99 ADRIAN SUTIL
Sauber-Ferrari C33

Start: 17th
Finish: DNF
Strategy: retired (super-soft/super-soft/soft/super-soft)

Rating: 6

Sutil was dogged by a number of engine-related problems throughout the weekend, which compromised both qualifying and the race.

The clash with Perez was unfortunate and didn't help, but the German was on a hiding to nothing anyway.

25 JEAN-ERIC VERGNE
Toro Rosso-Renault STR9

Start: 12th
Finish: 6th
Strategy: 3 stops (super-soft/super-soft/super-soft/soft)

Rating: 9

While Vergne, by his own admission, underachieved in qualifying, he was superb in the race.

Kvyat had to let Vergne past early on. They would have contrasting races © XPB

Perhaps a little foolish to court two penalties for exceeding track limits, he made up for it with a wonderful, attacking drive to sixth despite losing 10 seconds.

26 DANIIL KVYAT
Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR9

Start: 10th
Finish: 14th
Strategy: 3 stops (super-soft/soft/super-soft/soft)

Rating: 5

The Russian's pace was impressive, again outqualifying Vergne, although things were tougher in the race.

Not only did he lose use of his water bottle, which explained why the race took so much out of him physically, but he struggled hugely with tyre management on Sunday.

19 FELIPE MASSA
Williams-Mercedes FW36

Start: 6th
Finish: 5th
Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/super-soft/soft)

Rating: 10

Remember the Felipe Massa who took pole position in Singapore by six-and-a-half tenths in 2008? Well, the Brazilian was at a similar level this year.

Massa excelled in Singapore © XPB

Massa was excellent in qualifying and superb in the race, even when having to drive "like a grandmother" to extend his final stint on softs.

77 VALTTERI BOTTAS
Williams-Renault FW36

Start: 8th
Finish: 11th
Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/super-soft/soft)

Rating: 7

This was a weekend during which the Finn didn't look quite as impressive as his team-mate.

He qualified a few tenths slower and would have finished not far behind but for a friction problem that made his steering stodgy and lacking in feedback. This contributed to his tyres "falling off a cliff" on the last lap and him plummeting out of the points.

4 MAX CHILTON
Marussia-Ferrari MR-03

Start: 21st
Finish: 17th
Strategy: 3 stops (super-soft/super-soft/soft/super-soft)

Rating: 5

Chilton didn't look like being able to extract the kind of pace from the Marussia that Bianchi achieved in practice.

Chilton held off the troubled Rosberg © XPB

His race was compromised by misfortune, including a tyre valve problem that forced him to pit twice in quick succession, although there were some flashes of improved performance.

17 JULES BIANCHI
Marussia-Ferrari MR-03

Start: 19th
Finish: 16th
Strategy: 3 stops (super-soft/super-soft/soft/super-soft)

Rating: 7

Bianchi's raw pace was excellent in qualifying. But finishing behind Ericsson was a surprise, the consequence of a combination of brake trouble and a struggle to get the most out of the soft Pirellis, meaning he had to make one more stop.

9 MARCUS ERICSSON
Caterham-Renault CT05

Start: 22nd
Finish: 15th
Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/super-soft/soft)

Rating: 8

The Swede's 1.9s deficit to Kobayashi in qualifying wasn't representative thanks to an electrical problem that restricted him to one late-Q1 run, but he had showed little in the way of pace through practice.

Kobayashi was hopping out before the race even began © XPB

The race was probably his best of the year, holding off Bianchi on ageing rubber.

10 KAMUI KOBAYASHI
Caterham-Renault CT05

Start: 20th
Finish: DNS
Strategy: DNS

Rating: 6

Kobayashi gave a good account of himself in qualifying after being given a relatively late call-up at the start of the race week.

While he probably should have been a few tenths quicker on Saturday evening, he could have been no higher.

Sunday was a write-off thanks to control electronics problems on the parade lap.