Russian Grand Prix driver ratings

1 SEBASTIAN VETTEL
Red Bull-Renault RB10

Start: 10th
Finish: 8th
Strategy: 1 stop (soft/medium)

Rating: 6

A tough weekend for Vettel, who perhaps went too far in trying to lean off the downforce and struggled in qualifying and the race.

His pace on Sunday wasn't dissimilar to Ricciardo's, although he couldn't stay ahead despite his team-mate's early stop.

3 DANIEL RICCIARDO
Red Bull-Renault RB10

Start: 6th
Finish: 7th
Strategy: 1 stop (soft/medium)

Rating: 7

The Red Bull didn't have the speed of Mercedes, Williams or even McLaren, so Ricciardo did a decent job in qualifying to end up seventh fastest.

He had a solid race, although he was shuffled back on the first lap.

6 NICO ROSBERG
Mercedes F1 W05

Start: 2nd
Finish: 2nd
Strategy: 1 stop (soft/medium)

Rating: 7

Didn't quite have the pace of Hamilton in qualifying and probably knew his only chance was to take the lead at the start, hence his "unnecessary" lock-up trying to do so.

From there, Rosberg recovered well and, while he had a car advantage, he made efficient passes when he needed to to limit the damage.

44 LEWIS HAMILTON
Mercedes F1 W05

Start: 1st
Finish: 1st
Strategy: 1 stop (soft/medium)

Rating: 9

There was never a moment during the weekend when Hamilton looked like a driver who wasn't going to win the race, save perhaps for when Bottas was on his final qualifying flyer.

He admitted he could have been quicker in qualifying, but once Rosberg was out of the way he controlled the race effortlessly.

7 KIMI RAIKKONEN
Ferrari F14 T

Start: 8th
Finish: 9th
Strategy: 1 stop (soft/medium)

Rating: 6

Raikkonen said he was happy with the balance of the Ferrari in both qualifying and the race, but complained about the lack of car pace and power in particular.

He was less than a tenth off Alonso in qualifying but having to lift to avoid a Toro Rosso at the start cost him places. Fine, but still not quite at Alonso's level.

14 FERNANDO ALONSO
Ferrari F14 T

Start: 7th
Finish: 6th
Strategy: 1 stop (soft/medium)

Rating: 8

Alonso did his usual good job, although he probably should have lapped slightly quicker in Q3.

A slow pitstop made it harder for him to pressure Magnussen for fifth, but sixth was about as good as it would get for the Ferrari.

8 ROMAIN GROSJEAN
Lotus-Renault E22

Start: 15th
Finish: 17th
Strategy: 1 stop (soft/medium)

Rating: 6

Another weekend best described as character-building, but he arguably should have got more out of the car in Q2, even if it wouldn't have made a vast difference to his grid position.

Grosjean struggled with tyre temperature in the race, but was perhaps unlucky to get a five-second penalty for the collision with Sutil.

13 PASTOR MALDONADO
Lotus-Renault E22

Start: 20th
Finish: 18th
Strategy: 1 stop (medium/soft)

Rating: 6

A series of problems ruined his Saturday and cast him to the back of the grid. He tried starting on mediums but this couldn't make an uncompetitive car any quicker.

The lack of pace was compounded by struggling to get the tyres to work.

20 KEVIN MAGNUSSEN
McLaren-Mercedes MP4-29

Start: 11th
Finish: 6th
Strategy: 1 stop (soft/medium)

Rating: 9

When you take into account Magnussen's fuel-flow meter problems, which initially set in in Q2 then got worse in the top 10 shootout, the Dane was a little quicker than Button.

He rode his luck on the opening lap, but did a great job to climb to fifth and stay there given fuel-use troubles.

22 JENSON BUTTON
McLaren-Mercedes MP4-29

Start: 4th
Finish: 5th
Strategy: 1 stop (soft/medium)

Rating: 8

Button looked immediately at home on the new circuit, lapping quickly on Friday and carrying that form into qualifying after a difficult Saturday morning.

He drove a typically accomplished race.

11 SERGIO PEREZ
Force India-Mercedes VJM07

Start: 12th
Finish: 10th
Strategy: 1 stop (medium/soft)

Rating: 9

Shaded by a tiny margin by Hulkenberg in qualifying, Perez had to drive extremely well in the race to keep the quicker Williams of Massa behind to score a point.

He had to do so with serious fuel-consumption concerns, so deserves credit for his race drive.

27 NICO HULKENBERG
Force India-Mercedes VJM07

Start: 17th
Finish: 12th
Strategy: 1 stop (medium/soft)

Rating: 8

Hulkenberg was fractionally quicker than Perez on raw pace, but a five-place grid penalty meant that he wasn't in a position to challenge for the top 10.

He did a good job in the race, but from where he started couldn't really have made more progress.

21 ESTEBAN GUTIERREZ
Sauber-Ferrari C33

Start: 13th
Finish: 15th
Strategy: 1 stop (soft/medium)

Rating: 8

Considering he sat out Friday-morning practice and then had problems on Saturday morning, Gutierrez did well to outqualify Sutil.

The Mexican did a good job with a long first stint on softs, hoping for a safety car, but it didn't pay off.

Even so, he finished as high up as a Sauber was going to.

99 ADRIAN SUTIL
Sauber-Ferrari C33

Start: 14th
Finish: 16th
Strategy: 1 stop (medium/soft)

Rating: 6

A solid weekend in a difficult car, albeit one in which he didn't seem to quite have the pace of his team-mate.

Sutil did play his part in the collision with Grosjean by trying to squeeze around the outside at Turn 2, but ultimately it made little difference to anything.

25 JEAN-ERIC VERGNE
Toro Rosso-Renault STR9

Start: 9th
Finish: 13th
Strategy: 1 stop (soft/medium)

Rating: 7

A lack of power in qualifying shrouded what was actually a very good performance.

Vergne did superbly in the early laps, particularly in wheel-to-wheel battle, before fading as he had to take it very easy amid fuel-consumption concerns.

26 DANIIL KVYAT
Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR9

Start: 5th
Finish: 14th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/medium/soft)

Rating: 6

Superb in qualifying, but Kvyat had a trying race.

He struggled for grip early on and lost too many positions in this phase, then locked up, created a flat-spot and had to make a second stop.

Fuel-consumption problems made it even harder, but he could have dealt better with difficult circumstances.

19 FELIPE MASSA
Williams-Mercedes FW36

Start: 18th
Finish: 11th
Strategy: 2 stops (medium/soft/soft)

Rating: 6

Massa looked brisk enough, albeit not as quick as Bottas, but a fuel-pump failure in qualifying condemned him to the back.

He was fast in the race and had a superb first lap before pitting, but paid the price for not getting past Perez.

77 VALTTERI BOTTAS
Williams-Renault FW36

Start: 3rd
Finish: 3rd
Strategy: 1 stop (soft/medium)

Rating: 8

Bottas made a valiant attempt to grab an unlikely pole with a balls-out lap.

He drove well in the race even with tyre troubles, but although he was kicking himself for letting Rosberg through, it's doubtful that changed his result even though pace returned late on.

4 MAX CHILTON
Marussia-Ferrari MR-03

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

Rating: 7

Faced with a horrible situation and in a one-car team, Chilton deserves credit for the way he handled the weekend.

In the circumstances, a gearbox-change penalty and early retirement seem the least of his or Marussia's problems.

9 MARCUS ERICSSON
Caterham-Renault CT05

Start: 16th
Finish: 19th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/medium/soft)

Rating: 7

The Swede was quick in qualifying, although comparisons with Kobayashi are difficult because of the Japanese seeming not to have as strong a car, but Ericsson gave a good account of himself in battle with Lotus and Sauber.

An extra stop dropped him to last, but it was another decent weekend.

10 KAMUI KOBAYASHI
Caterham-Renault CT05

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

Rating: 5

Russia was a waste of time for Kobayashi.

He missed a session to let Merhi run on Friday morning, struggled with a car that wasn't as quick as the sister machine and then retired early with overheating brakes.

He was on a hiding to nothing.