Belgian Grand Prix driver ratings

6 Nico Rosberg
Mercedes F1 W07

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

Rating: 9

Rosberg did everything he needed to at Spa, delivering his end of the bargain on a theoretically difficult weekend for his main rival. He was made to sweat for pole by Mercedes' super-soft tyre struggles but got the strategic job done in Q2 and still held on in Q3.

His race was flawless. The only downside is that he didn't really have to work for it.

44 Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes F1 W07

Start: 21st
Finish: 3rd
Strategy: 3 stops (medium/soft/soft/medium)

Rating: 8

A strange weekend for the reigning world champion, who didn't really bother to participate in qualifying knowing he was starting at the back of the grid regardless of what he did.

He completed a clean salvage job in the race, and achieved an unexpectedly good result, but owed his progress to others' misfortune as much as anything particularly stellar he did behind the wheel.

5 Sebastian Vettel
Ferrari SF16-H

Start: 4th
Finish: 6th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/soft/medium)

Rating: 7

Vettel was the slower Ferrari driver in qualifying even without the wild oversteer that cost him time at the Bus Stop chicane. He was unfortunate to get turned around in a three-way collision with Raikkonen and Verstappen after a good start, but made a decent recovery to finish sixth with a damaged car.

Efforts to pass Verstappen and Massa were a bit ham-fisted, but otherwise Vettel drove well.

7 Kimi Raikkonen
Ferrari SF16-H

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

Rating: 7

Raikkonen usually goes well at Spa and was on good form this weekend, beating Vettel in qualifying and coming close to snatching pole. But he was really in the wars in the race - collision at the first corner, fire in the pits, a puncture, and another racing etiquette barney with Verstappen.

He also got stuck behind slower cars at the end where Vettel did not, though it's unclear how much of a factor car damage was in that struggle.

19 Felipe Massa
Williams-Mercedes FW38

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

Rating: 6

Another frustrating weekend for Massa, who cost himself an extra place on the grid regardless of the engine misfires that hampered him throughout the session by locking up at La Source.

He started the race in fine fashion, and was ahead of Perez's Force India at one point, but couldn't make his final set of tyres last as he gradually got shuffled back through the top 10.

77 Valtteri Bottas
Williams-Mercedes FW38

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

Rating: 7

A race of 'what ifs' for Bottas, who might have battled the Force Indias had he enjoyed a clean weekend. He was rapid in final practice, but like Massa suffered from a misfiring engine in Q3.

His race was undone by pitting too late under the safety car because Williams expected the red flag to be thrown sooner. Bottas enjoyed better tyre life than Massa at the end, but didn't quite have enough to beat Alonso's McLaren.

3 Daniel Ricciardo
Red Bull-Renault RB12

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

Rating: 8

Ricciardo was underwhelming in qualifying, making a hash of his first Q3 run and feeling changing wind direction cost him on his second, as he trailed Verstappen by three tenths. He just about pulled off using the soft tyre in Q2, though, which made his race.

The Australian lacked the pace to win, but tracked Rosberg's every move and managed his rubber well enough to comfortably keep Hamilton at bay.

33 Max Verstappen
Red Bull-Renault RB12

Start: 2nd
Finish: 11th
Strategy: 3 stops (super-soft/medium/soft/soft)

Rating: 7

We saw the best and worst of Verstappen at Spa. To qualify second after missing FP3 was superb, but he was perhaps over aggressive recovering from a poor start and the unfortunate first-corner collision with the Ferraris.

That jinking defence against Raikkonen on Kemmel Straight was out of order. Verstappen is a real fighter, but his ruthless streak will undo him if he's not careful.

11 Sergio Perez
Force India-Mercedes VJM09

Start: 6th
Finish: 5th
Strategy: 3 stops (super-soft/soft/medium/medium)

Rating: 8

Perez trailed his team-mate in Q1 and Q2, and ended up ahead when it counted only because of an engine sensor problem that made one cylinder perform differently to Hulkenberg's other five, costing him 0.2-0.3s.

Perez drove a solid race after falling back to eighth early on while his team-mate ran at the front. He was second best on a strong Force India weekend, but not by much.

27 Nico Hulkenberg
Force India-Mercedes VJM09

Start: 7th
Finish: 4th
Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/soft/medium)

Rating: 9

For a while it looked as though Hulkenberg might finally break his podium duck in this race, but fourth was realistically the best he could do amid Hamilton's charge through the field.

He pitted at the perfect time to ditch super-softs before the red flag, and fended off Alonso aggressively at his second stop. He would have beaten Perez in qualifying too but for a Q3 engine problem.

20 Kevin Magnussen
Renault RS16

Start: 12th
Finish: Retired
Strategy: (soft/retired)

Rating: 7

Magnussen did an excellent job to split the Haas drivers in qualifying, achieving Renault's best Saturday result of the year, though that was thanks partly to Alonso's and Hamilton's non-participation.

He didn't make a great start to the race, but was motoring along fine when he got slightly offline through Eau Rouge and lost control over the inside kerb at Raidillon. Thankfully he limped away from an enormous shunt with little more than a cut to his ankle.

30 Jolyon Palmer
Renault RS16

Start: 13th
Finish: 15th
Strategy: 3 stops (soft/soft/medium/super-soft)

Rating: 6

Palmer trailed Magnussen by four tenths in qualifying, but would have been much closer without a moment at the final corner. He ran inside the top seven early on and was still ahead of both Haas drivers, the Ferraris, Verstappen and Bottas after the red flag. But Palmer struggled with tyre management and fell back into a fruitless super-soft sprint race with Kvyat's Toro Rosso at the end.

26 Daniil Kvyat
Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR11

Start: 19th
Finish: 14th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/medium/super-soft)

Rating: 7

Kvyat wasn't quite at Sainz's level here, but this was a more complete performance from the much-maligned Russian. He failed to escape Q1, but was closer (0.182s off) to Sainz than has been usual on conventional tracks, suggesting things are slowly starting to click.

He did what he could against much quicker cars in the race, and at least managed to beat Palmer's Renault.

55 Carlos Sainz Jr
Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR11

Start: 14th
Finish: Retired
Strategy: (soft/retired)

Rating: 8

A tough weekend for Sainz, who drove well but only just squeaked into Q2 amid Toro Rosso's chassis and engine struggles. He was depressed by the large gap to the top 10 and surprised by Renault's sudden turn of speed too.

The Spaniard stormed up to seventh on the opening lap, but ran over debris, picked up a puncture and retired with the rear wing hanging off.

9 Marcus Ericsson
Sauber-Ferrari C35

Start: Pits
Finish: Retired
Strategy: (soft/retired)

Rating: 6

A frustrating weekend for Ericsson, who was buoyed by aerodynamic updates to the C35 that put it back in the mix for Q2. He did well to qualify within 0.122s of Nasr after missing FP3 with engine problems and suffering misfires in qualifying too.

Ericsson started from the pitlane thanks to cooling system issues ahead of the race, and then lost sixth gear when he did finally get going.

12 Felipe Nasr
Sauber-Ferrari C35

Start: 16th
Finish: 17th
Strategy: 3 stops (soft/medium/soft/medium)

Rating: 6

Nasr enjoyed a brilliant start, rising to 11th until puncturing a rear tyre on lap one on debris scattered by the various collisions. An unscheduled pitstop dropped him to the back and residual damage to the car cost "20 points of downforce".

He struggled to keep his tyres alive as a result, but would still have beaten Ocon without a penalty for leaving the track for gain.

14 Fernando Alonso
McLaren-Honda MP4-31

Start: 22nd
Finish: 7th
Strategy: 2 stops (medium/soft/medium)

Rating: 10

This was a brilliant virtuoso performance from Alonso. Starting last on the grid his chances of points seemed non-existent, but he dodged the early chaos and rode his strategic luck to climb to fourth. Then he impressively hung on for grim death against faster opposition.

Hamilton, Vettel and Perez all got past, but Alonso still beat a Ferrari and both Williams drivers in a slower car.

22 Jenson Button
McLaren-Honda MP4-31

Start: 9th
Finish: Retired
Strategy: (super-soft/retired)

Rating: 7

Despite a substantial engine update the MP4-31 was not a top-10 car at Spa, but Button put his ninth on the grid with a lap he described as one of the best of his career in qualifying.

Unfortunately he lost ground at La Source after a strong start, and a punt from Wehrlein while Button diced with Magnussen at Les Combes ended the Briton's race early.

31 Esteban Ocon
Manor-Mercedes MRT-05

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

Rating: 6

Ocon was half a second away from Wehrlein in qualifying, which he put down to lack of knowledge of the vagaries of the super-soft tyre. He was determined to move forward in the race, but damaged a brake duct so struggled to keep his tyres alive.

He still beat Nasr's hobbled Sauber, but felt Palmer's Renault was there for the taking with no damage. A decent F1 debut.

94 Pascal Wehrlein
Manor-Mercedes MRT-05

Start: 15th
Finish: Retired
Strategy: (soft/retired)

Rating: 7

Wehrlein's lap to go ninth fastest in Q1 was stunning, showing again how devastatingly quick he can be when he gets everything right. Unfortunately he had no more super-soft tyres left, so couldn't repeat the feat in Q2, where he wound up slowest.

He dodged the first-corner mayhem in the race, but it looked as though he should have been more circumspect to avoid that needless crash with Button.

8 Romain Grosjean
Haas-Ferrari VF-16

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

Rating: 7

Grosjean was happier with his car here, having finally escaped the set-up blind alley he'd wandered down before the summer break. He was faster than Gutierrez in qualifying, despite suffering a mysterious straightline speed deficit unrelated to the engine.

He enjoyed a brilliant opening to the race, but lost ground at his first pitstop and also suffered a temporary ERS problem. That dropped him behind Gutierrez, where he stayed.

21 Esteban Gutierrez
Haas-Ferrari VF-16

Start: 18th
Finish: 12th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/soft/medium)

Rating: 6

Gutierrez struggled to achieve feeling with his car on such high tyre pressures and in blistering heat. He made a decent fist of Q1, but ended up behind Grosjean when it counted in Q2.

He probably ended up with the race result the car merited on balance, but wasn't quite on Grosjean's level here and would have finished behind his team-mate without the intervention of Grosjean's ERS problem.