European Grand Prix driver ratings

6 NICO ROSBERG
Mercedes F1 W07

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

Rating: 9

Rosberg wasn't at Hamilton's level through practice, and couldn't get near him in the first sector during qualifying either, but he didn't make mistakes at the crucial moments.

The championship leader bagged pole and utterly dominated the race. It's debatable whether he was quick enough to beat Hamilton in a straight fight here, but that's a moot point given the way things played out.

44 LEWIS HAMILTON
Mercedes F1 W07

Start: 10th
Finish: 5th
Strategy: 1 stop (super-soft/soft)

Rating: 6

Hamilton topped every practice session, despite refusing to walk the track as his rivals had or do much simulator work, but he admitted he wasn't good enough in qualifying, where he went off several times then crashed, struggling to adapt to set-up changes that wrecked his confidence on the brakes.

De-rating ERS and tyre graining undid his race, but doing a better job on Saturday would have made his life much easier.

5 SEBASTIAN VETTEL
Ferrari SF16-H

Start: 3rd
Finish: 2nd
Strategy: 1 stop (super-soft/soft)

Rating: 8

Having qualified within two tenths of pole in Canada, Ferrari was 1.208s down here, which Vettel put down to deficiencies in low-speed corner performance and wing settings, rather than engine weakness. Being outpaced by Perez and matched by Ricciardo was disappointing.

The race was straightforward for Vettel, thanks to Ricciardo's tyre woes and Raikkonen's team play, but he showed strength in overruling Ferrari's debatable strategy call.

7 KIMI RAIKKONEN
Ferrari SF16-H

Start: 4th
Finish: 4th
Strategy: 1 stop (super-soft/soft)

Rating: 6

The heat helped Raikkonen be more competitive than in Canada, where tyre temperature hurt him, but he was still three tenths off Vettel in qualifying.

The race turned into a plod, thanks to a very early pitstop. Raikkonen blamed a five-second penalty for crossing the pit entry line illegally for ruining his podium chances, but that early stop amid weak pace on the super-soft tyre did more damage.

19 FELIPE MASSA
Williams-Mercedes FW38

Start: 5th
Finish: 10th
Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/soft/soft)

Rating: 6

Massa felt lost after Friday practice, but overnight set-up changes - focused on suspension tweaks and adding downforce - made a "night and day" difference and he ended up being the faster Williams driver in qualifying.

But this transformation did not carry over to the race, which he described as "terrible" after struggling throughout to keep his rear tyres in shape. A Sunday to forget.

77 VALTTERI BOTTAS
Williams-Mercedes FW38

Start: 8th
Finish: 6th
Strategy: 1 stop (super-soft/soft)

Rating: 8

Bottas was more comfortable than Massa with the FW38's oversteer balance and got to grips with the circuit quickly, but getting tangled up with Verstappen twice in Q3 was a big setback.

He didn't do too much wrong in the race at least, making the tyres last in a way his team-mate could not, but with Force India on the podium this was a missed opportunity for Williams.

3 DANIEL RICCIARDO
Red Bull-Renault RB12

Start: 2nd
Finish: 7th
Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/soft/medium)

Rating: 7

Red Bull struggled to get the tyres working in Friday practice, so Ricciardo did a great job to beat the Ferraris in qualifying, especially considering the Renault engine is still not at that level.

But the RB12 destroyed the low-temperature working range softer compounds in the race, which meant he went backwards. The medium held up much better, but the damage was done.

33 MAX VERSTAPPEN
Red Bull-Renault RB12

Start: 9th
Finish: 8th
Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/soft/medium)

Rating: 7

Verstappen was furious with Bottas for twice trying to occupy the same piece of track as him in Q3, which compromised both their laps and left Verstappen well adrift of Ricciardo.

He suffered the exact same difficulties as Ricciardo in the race, but with the extra disadvantage of getting thrust further back into traffic. Verstappen then came alive on the medium tyre, though, charging impressively to finish within two seconds of his team-mate.

11 SERGIO PEREZ
Force India-Mercedes VJM09

Start: 7th
Finish: 3rd
Strategy: 1 stop (super-soft/soft)

Rating: 9

Perez was fast all weekend and excellent in qualifying, but was rightly kicking himself for a silly mistake in final practice that damaged his gearbox and earned him a grid penalty. He loses a mark for that costly crash.

Otherwise he was faultless, recovering superbly to bag a second podium in three races. Perez managed tyres in a way few others could, and sealed the result with last-lap pass on Raikkonen.

27 NICO HULKENBERG
Force India-Mercedes VJM09

Start: 12th
Finish: 9th
Strategy: 1 stop (soft/super-soft)

Rating: 6

Gust of wind or not, to end up only 12th in qualifying after his spin and timing mistake was a poor performance, given Force India reckoned Hulkenberg was likely to be quicker than Perez with a clean lap.

He tried an alternative one-stop strategy in the race, taking a harder tyre compound first, but got tagged by Gutierrez at Turn 1 and couldn't make the tyres last, so became a sitting duck at the end.

20 KEVIN MAGNUSSEN
Renault RS16

Start: Pits
Finish: 14th
Strategy: 1 stop (super-soft/soft)

Rating: 8

The Renault was woefully slow in qualifying here, struggling for rear grip and to ride the kerbs. Magnussen pipped team-mate Palmer to avoid wooden spoon status, but once it became clear the gearbox needed changing the team opted to break parc ferme conditions, tweak the suspension and start from the pits.

Magnussen drove well to latch straight onto the pack and execute a one-stop strategy.

30 JOLYON PALMER
Renault RS16

Start: 21st
Finish: 15th
Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/soft/super-soft)

Rating: 6

Palmer is much happier with the basic set-up now, and pretty much matched Magnussen in qualifying, but he was still slowest of all amid Renault's struggles for single lap speed on this track.

He went off three times at Turn 1 in the race, which meant he wrecked his tyres and finished behind his team-mate. Palmer is showing strong pace now, but needs to cut out the errors.

26 DANIIL KVYAT
Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR11

Start: 6th
Finish: Retired
Strategy: (super-soft/soft/retired)

Rating: 8

Kvyat praised his engineering team after finally enjoying a clean build-up through practice and couldn't have realistically qualified higher. Though his pace barely increased as the circuit conditions improved, for Toro Rosso to be in Q3 here with its power and drag deficit represented a fine effort.

A rear suspension problem brought a cruel early end to an otherwise strong weekend for the much-maligned Russian.

55 CARLOS SAINZ JR
Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR11

Start: 18th
Finish: Retired
Strategy: (super-soft/soft/super-soft/retired)

Rating: 7

Sainz knew this would be a difficult circuit for Toro Rosso, but was surprisingly rapid in Friday practice. Then the team replaced his worn brakes and the car started pulling to the right, which killed his confidence in qualifying.

A grid penalty for a gearbox change hurt him further, but he recovered well and was fighting hard with the McLaren-Hondas until suspension problems struck.

9 MARCUS ERICSSON
Sauber-Ferrari C35

Start: 20th
Finish: 17th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/super-soft/soft)

Rating: 5

Ericsson was the fastest Sauber driver through practice, but declared his qualifying was "shit". He got held up by both Haas drivers (not illegally) and glanced the wall in Q1. He gets marked down for that.

His race was disappointing too. He couldn't keep the soft tyre alive long enough to make an alternative one-stopper work, and struggled on the super-soft too. Not his best grand prix.

12 FELIPE NASR
Sauber-Ferrari C35

Start: 15th
Finish: 12th
Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/soft/soft)

Rating: 8

Nasr has struggled recently, but he got things hooked up better in Baku. He did a good job to escape Q1, helped by Button's failure to string a proper run together.

The Brazilian gained a couple of places on the first lap when Gutierrez and Hulkenberg came together at Turn 1, then impressively kept pace with Button's McLaren until the final eight laps.

14 FERNANDO ALONSO
McLaren-Honda MP4-31

Start: 13th
Finish: Retired
Strategy: (super-soft/soft/soft/retired)

Rating: 8

Alonso questioned McLaren's qualifying tactics, suggesting it put him in traffic unnecessarily, and also bemoaned losing DRS to yellow flags on his quick laps.

He tried to make up for that with a banzai start to the race. The McLaren almost passed Hamilton's Mercedes around the outside at Turn 1, but got hung out to dry and fell back. Alonso was running just ahead of team-mate Button before gearbox trouble struck.

22 JENSON BUTTON
McLaren-Honda MP4-31

Start: 19th
Finish: 11th
Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/soft/soft)

Rating: 7

Button took full responsibility for the lock-up and burnout that destroyed his tyres and meant an early bath in qualifying. The McLaren wasn't fast in Baku, but it was fast enough for Q2...

He made up for that with a great job in the race. Button tracked Alonso closely and was slightly quicker at the start of the final stint even before his team-mate's gearbox broke.

88 RIO HARYANTO
Manor-Mercedes MRT-05

Start: 16th
Finish: 18th
Strategy: 1 stop (super-soft/soft)

Rating: 6

Haryanto did a good job in qualifying, ending up the quicker Manor driver (and sixth overall in the final sector), though he was disappointed to miss a realistic shot at Q2. With a better middle sector it was doable.

His race unravelled after contact with Gutierrez at Turn 1 damaged the front wing. A subsequent 50-lap stint on softs after pitting for a replacement was overambitious.

94 PASCAL WEHRLEIN
Manor-Mercedes MRT-05

Start: 17th
Finish: Retired
Strategy: (soft/medium/retired)

Rating: 6

Wehrlein felt a loss of DRS for yellow flags at the end of Q1 cost him a place in Q2, but even had he strung his best sectors together he would have been fractionally slower than his team-mate.

He started the race strongly, then fell back as strategy played out. Wehrlein was clinging on to Ericsson's Sauber when the Manor ran out of brakes.

8 ROMAIN GROSJEAN
Haas-Ferrari VF-16

Start: 11th
Finish: 13th
Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/soft/medium)

Rating: 8

Haas was significantly more competitive on a track with longer straights and higher temperatures than recent venues, and once happy with the brakes Grosjean rediscovered his strong Saturday form to get within a tenth of Q3.

He was driving decently in the race too, keeping Hulkenberg's Force India honest until debris lodged in the radiators, which necessitated an unplanned second stop.

21 ESTEBAN GUTIERREZ
Haas-Ferrari VF-16

Start: 14th
Finish: 16th
Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/soft/super-soft)

Rating: 5

Gutierrez was not particularly happy with his car's braking performance in qualifying, and disappointingly went slower in Q2 than he did in Q1 before going off at Turn 8 on his second run.

His race was compromised by front wing damage, after tagging Hulkenberg's Force India at Turn 1 after the start. He struggled for speed after that and finished behind both Renaults.