Italian Grand Prix driver ratings

6 NICO ROSBERG
Mercedes F1 W07

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

Rating: 8

Rosberg all but eliminated Hamilton's championship lead with a perfectly executed race - fast, consistent, no mistakes. But we know he can deliver such results when the pressure is off.

Hamilton's bad start gifted Rosberg the race really, and though he grabbed the chance with both hands he loses marks for coming nowhere close to challenging Hamilton for pole in qualifying.

44 LEWIS HAMILTON
Mercedes F1 W07

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

Rating: 8

Hamilton looked unstoppable until the red lights went out. Was the bad start his fault? The team's fault? A bit of both? It wasn't really clear. But this was not the first time Hamilton's botched a start this season, so he loses marks for gifting Rosberg the win.

His recovery drive to second was straightforward given Mercedes' advantage over the field, but Hamilton's qualifying performance was really something special.

5 SEBASTIAN VETTEL
Ferrari SF16-H

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

Rating: 9

This was a very accomplished performance from Vettel, who seemed buoyed by racing in front of the devoted Tifosi despite doing so in a car not able to deliver on their collective expectation.

Perhaps he could have been a little bolder in challenging Rosberg at the start, but Vettel still achieved the maximum his Ferrari deserved with a fast and clean performance.

7 KIMI RAIKKONEN
Ferrari SF16-H

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

Rating: 8

This was a good display from Raikkonen, who has driven with greater verve and consistency since Ferrari announced his 2017 contract at Silverstone.

He lapped within a tenth of Vettel in qualifying, despite not hooking his best sectors together, and tracked him effectively in the race, averaging just over a tenth per lap deficit across the entire grand prix distance. He needs to keep this up.

19 FELIPE MASSA
Williams-Mercedes FW38

Start: 11th
Finish: 9th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/soft/super-soft)

Rating: 7

The Williams was good enough to make the top six on the Monza grid, so to finish up 11th and almost half a second down on Bottas was underwhelming from Massa.

The race was a bit better, thanks to a strong opening lap, but the FW38 was not kind to its tyres and Massa couldn't quite manage to overcome both Force Indias in the end.

77 VALTTERI BOTTAS
Williams-Mercedes FW38

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

Rating: 9

Bottas wanted a podium from this race, after superbly qualifying his Williams ahead of both Red Bulls, but couldn't hang onto his tyres well enough to stand a chance.

He drove a solid and consistent race, but just didn't have enough in the tank to fend off Ricciardo in the end. Still, this was a fine performance from Bottas, who looked on it all weekend.

3 DANIEL RICCIARDO
Red Bull-Renault RB12

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

Rating: 9

Another strong drive from Ricciardo, on a tough weekend for Red Bull.

Two thousandths of a second quicker in qualifying would have made his life a little easier, but his relentless pursuit put Bottas into tyre trouble, and Ricciardo then executed the pass of the race with an opportunistic lunge into the Rettifilo chicane to nick fifth - the best result possible in the circumstances.

33 MAX VERSTAPPEN
Red Bull-Renault RB12

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

Rating: 8

Things didn't look particularly promising for Verstappen after the first lap. His car kicked into anti-stall at the start and fell outside the top 10. But Verstappen is one of those drivers who makes things happen for himself.

He overcame Massa and Alonso in the pits, but jumping the Force Indias was all his own work on track. Didn't quite have Ricciardo's absolute pace, but was very close.

11 SERGIO PEREZ
Force India-Mercedes VJM09

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

Rating: 8

A very solid weekend's work from Perez, who scored a handful of points in a car that was draggy and not well balanced for this circuit.

Perhaps he could have done a bit more to try to keep Verstappen behind, but at least underlined how far he's raised his game on Saturdays by edging out Hulkenberg by a few hundredths in qualifying.

27 NICO HULKENBERG
Force India-Mercedes VJM09

Start: 9th
Finish: 10th
Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/soft/soft)

Rating: 7

Described the balance of his VJM09 as "crap" after a tough Friday, but qualified only 0.022s behind Perez - a decent effort.

A difficult first lap ultimately defined his race. He lost out driving around Verstappen's anti-stalled Red Bull, got roughed up by Massa's Williams at the Roggia chicane, lost a place to Alonso, and another a few laps later to the recovering Verstappen.

20 KEVIN MAGNUSSEN
Renault RS16

Start: 21st
Finish: 17th
Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/soft/super-soft)

Rating: 6

Not a weekend to remember for Magnussen, who over-reached a little in qualifying after a slow first run, ending with a big off-track excursion at Ascari and a two-tenth deficit to team-mate Palmer.

He just about avoided the early clash between Palmer and Nasr's Sauber, but then got shuffled back battling with Ericsson, Button and Gutierrez. A lonely and frustrating race.

30 JOLYON PALMER
Renault RS16

Start: 20th
Finish: Retired
Strategy: (soft/medium/retired)

Rating: 7

Palmer feels he is driving as well as ever, and here he was the faster Renault driver in qualifying thanks to a nice clean progression through his three runs in Q1.

He enjoyed a strong start to the race, but was furious to run out of road and collide with Nasr's Sauber as they battled through the Rettifilo. He later retired the car on safety grounds.

26 DANIIL KVYAT
Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR11

Start: 16th
Finish: Retired
Strategy: (super-soft/soft/super-soft/retired)

Rating: 7

Kvyat is calmer, more consistent, definitely driving better - and just unfortunate to be on the up just as Toro Rosso's season is hitting the skids.

He got reasonably close to Sainz again in qualifying, and could have been closer still without traffic on his final Q1 lap. Kvyat kept pace well in the race too considering his car carried floor damage from the first-lap melee, before the battery overheated.

55 CARLOS SAINZ JR
Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR11

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

Rating: 8

Sainz did another first-rate job in qualifying, wringing the neck of a difficult car to make Q2 and lap within a tenth of Button's McLaren-Honda.

He tried to follow Grosjean through the field on a one-stop strategy, but rooted the tyres trying to keep up and had to revert to a two-stop, which left him fighting a losing battle with the McLarens and the other Haas of Gutierrez.

9 MARCUS ERICSSON
Sauber-Ferrari C35

Start: 19th
Finish: 16th
Strategy: 1 stop (soft/medium)

Rating: 7

Ericsson was struggling to tame a loose car in practice and qualifying and ended up just over a tenth down on his team-mate on Saturday, which he was disappointed by.

He improved the car with wing and differential settings in the race, but a one-stop strategy was probably a bit ambitious for a car that didn't look as though it could hang onto the tyres particularly well.

12 FELIPE NASR
Sauber-Ferrari C35

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

Rating: 6

Nasr drove well in qualifying, and felt he would have put Sauber into Q2 without his Ferrari engine misfiring.

He made a strong start to the race too, gaining a couple of places before needlessly running Palmer off the road and causing a collision. Though he retired with damage, he resumed briefly to serve a 10s penalty and avoid a grid drop for the next race.

14 FERNANDO ALONSO
McLaren-Honda MP4-31

Start: 12th
Finish: 14th
Strategy: 3 stops (super-soft/soft/soft/super-soft)

Rating: 6

Alonso qualified well and started strongly to run inside the top 10 in a difficult car, but then seemed to lose his cool after a slightly slow first pitstop.

His middle stint was very poor and he was gradually reeled in and overtaken by team-mate Button. A pointless third stop to fit super-softs and steal fastest lap cost him a further place to Gutierrez's Haas.

22 JENSON BUTTON
McLaren-Honda MP4-31

Start: 14th
Finish: 12th
Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/soft/super-soft)

Rating: 9

Button was last after the opening lap, thanks to a bad start and a gravelly off at the Lesmos while racing Ericsson's Sauber. But otherwise his drive was outstanding.

He overtook Gutierrez around the outside of Parabolica early on, but more impressively beat Alonso thanks to a phenomenal middle stint, in which he showcased superior pace and tyre management. That's not easy against one of F1's very best.

31 ESTEBAN OCON
Manor-Mercedes MRT-05

Start: 22nd
Finish: 18th
Strategy: 1 stop (medium/soft)

Rating: 6

A tough weekend for Ocon, who was twice let down by electrical failures on his Manor, first in Friday practice and then again before he could set a time in qualifying.

Ocon was disappointed with his race, in which he struggled with tyre life. The bright side is that he was quicker than Wehrlein in practice one and within half a tenth in practice three, despite missing second practice, which bodes well.

94 PASCAL WEHRLEIN
Manor-Mercedes MRT-05

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

Rating: 8

Wehrlein was undoubtedly one of the stars of qualifying, putting Manor into Q2 for the third time this season and for the second consecutive race. Splitting the two McLaren drivers put the Mercedes junior in rarefied company.

He was motoring along nicely against the McLarens and Sainz's Toro Rosso until a loss of oil pressure forced him to retire midway through the race.

8 ROMAIN GROSJEAN
Haas-Ferrari VF-16

Start: 17th
Finish: 11th
Strategy: 1 stop (soft/super-soft)

Rating: 8

Monza was probably one of the most effective races Grosjean has driven this season. A grid penalty for a gearbox change after practice hampered him, but he gained four places on the first lap, then passed Wehrlein's Manor, before eking out his tyre life to make the finish on just one stop.

His qualifying performance was a bit undercooked, but he achieved the best result possible given his situation.

21 ESTEBAN GUTIERREZ
Haas-Ferrari VF-16

Start: 10th
Finish: 13th
Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/soft/super-soft)

Rating: 7

The Haas wasn't quite fast enough to make the top 10, so Gutierrez deserves enormous credit for getting Haas into Q3 for the first time with undoubtedly his best qualifying performance of the season.

Unfortunately he fluffed the start of the race, which dropped him all the way back to 20th on lap one. Recovered decently after that, but this was an opportunity missed.