Abu Dhabi Grand Prix driver ratings

6 Nico Rosberg
Mercedes F1 W07

Start: 2nd
Finish: 2nd
Strategy: 2 stops (ultra-soft/soft/soft)

Rating: 8

Rosberg was the second best Mercedes driver in Abu Dhabi this year, but that's all he needed to be. He showed steel to pull off a pass on Verstappen when asked, resisted a sustained late attack from Vettel, and generally stood firm in the face of Hamilton's go-slow tactics, refusing to crack under enormous pressure. A job very well done.

44 Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes F1 W07

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

Rating: 9

Mercedes questioned Hamilton's tactics in this race, but really he had no other option if he wanted to be champion. You can't really give a driver who doesn't drive to his best full marks, but Hamilton gets credit for putting up a fight in the face of difficult odds and pressure from his own team.

5 Sebastian Vettel
Ferrari SF16-H

Start: 5th
Finish: 3rd
Strategy: 2 stops (ultra-soft/soft/super-soft)

Rating: 8

This was ultimately a strong drive from Vettel, who finished on the podium for the first time since Monza in September. He admitted to over-aggression in qualifying, which has become a worrying trait lately, but his Sunday drive was decent.

He was gunning for the win, but used up too much rubber charging past the Red Bulls before reaching the Mercedes roadblock.

7 Kimi Raikkonen
Ferrari SF16-H

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

Rating: 7

This was a disappointing race for Raikkonen, who ran third at the end of the first lap but eventually slipped to a distant sixth. He got gradually shuffled back through the pitstop cycles, and struggled particularly to keep his right-front tyre alive through the two major stints. The bright spot was outqualifying Vettel for the fifth race in a row.

19 Felipe Massa
Williams-Mercedes FW38

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

Rating: 8

After the heartache of Brazil this was a good way for Massa to bow out of Formula 1. He was perhaps fortunate that Bottas's car broke, having been overtaken by his team-mate early on, but did well to reel in Perez as the race wore on, while also just about managing to keep Alonso's charging McLaren at bay at the end.

77 Valtteri Bottas
Williams-Mercedes FW38

Start: 11th
Finish: Retired
Strategy: (ultra-soft/retired)

Rating: 6

It was disappointing to see Bottas qualify behind both Force Indias, team-mate Massa, and Alonso's McLaren, given he was quicker than both Force Indias in FP2, and close behind them in FP3.

He started the race pretty well, passing Massa decisively into Turn 11. A few laps later the suspension gave out over a bump, so that was that.

3 Daniel Ricciardo
Red Bull-Renault RB12

Start: 3rd
Finish: 5th
Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/soft/soft)

Rating: 7

Ricciardo hoped to be the spoiler in the title fight, and produced a superb qualifying lap to claim prime position behind the Mercedes drivers.

A bad start dropped him behind Raikkonen, but weak strategy was his real undoing. He pitted too soon to ditch super-softs, and his second stint was also too short, costing track position to Vettel and Verstappen.

33 Max Verstappen
Red Bull-Renault RB12

Start: 6th
Finish: 4th
Strategy: 1 stop (super-soft/soft)

Rating: 7

A decent result for Verstappen, who actually finished within two seconds of victory despite a messy weekend. He made mistakes in qualifying and spun to the back after colliding with Hulkenberg at Turn 1, but carved quickly through the lower order, and capitalised on Hamilton's slow going to make a one-stop strategy work and almost reach the podium.

11 Sergio Perez
Force India-Mercedes VJM09

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

Rating: 7

There was little to choose between the Force India drivers again, with just 0.018s separating them in qualifying. Perez felt he could have done better but for overcompensating for understeer in the car.

After an early battle with Hulkenberg, Perez tracked him through the second stint, but fell away towards the end as he came under pressure from Massa.

27 Nico Hulkenberg
Force India-Mercedes VJM09

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

Rating: 8

This was a very solid performance from Hulkenberg, in his final race for Force India before switching to Renault. He escaped contact (with Verstappen) at Turn 1 without it ruining his race for once.

He felt he picked up some floor damage, but nevertheless quickly repassed Perez, and held him at bay to the flag, stretching well clear over the final five laps.

20 Kevin Magnussen
Renault RS16

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

Rating: 5

Magnussen's stint with Renault ended with a whimper. He was off the pace all weekend, and couldn't really explain why. A near-enough four-tenth gap to Palmer in qualifying was too much.

He picked up suspension and front wing damage on lap one from a clash with Ocon's Manor, after a bad start. The Dane tried to continue but had to retire.

30 Jolyon Palmer
Renault RS16

Start: 15th
Finish: 17th
Strategy: 3 stops (ultra-soft/soft/soft/super-soft)

Rating: 7

Palmer did an excellent job to make Q2 again, and started the race brilliantly too, rising to 11th on the opening lap. That was as good as it got, though.

He struggled "massively" with front tyre wear and fell back into a battle with Sainz's Toro Rosso. He was penalised for ramming it clumsily into Turn 17, and finished last of those classified.

26 Daniil Kvyat
Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR11

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

Rating: 7

A decent performance in tricky circumstances that ultimately went unrewarded. To almost make Q2, and beat Sainz by nearly four tenths, was no mean feat given the track time lost to FIA safety checks following punctures in FP1 and FP2.

Kvyat rose to 13th on the first lap, but only completed 13 more before the gearbox failed.

55 Carlos Sainz Jr
Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR11

Start: 21st
Finish: Retired
Strategy: (super-soft/soft/soft/retired)

Rating: 6

This was a bad way to end a fine second season in F1 for Sainz. Toro Rosso's FP2 safety concerns hampered him, as did a "3-5km/h" speed deficit in qualifying, where he failed to escape Q1 for the first time this year.

He battled hard in the race, until Palmer rear-ended him at Turn 17. He retired with gearbox failure shortly after.

9 Marcus Ericsson
Sauber-Ferrari C35

Start: 22nd
Finish: 15th
Strategy: 1 stop (soft/super-soft)

Rating: 6

Qualifying has generally been strong for Ericsson this season but he underperformed here, apologising for a big mistake at Turn 17 on his final run in Q1, which left him slowest of all.

He did a solid job executing his one-stop strategy in the race, which was more about spoiling Manor's day than trying to make personal progress.

12 Felipe Nasr
Sauber-Ferrari C35

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

Rating: 7

Apart from FP1, where his car looked tricky to drive, Nasr was the fastest of the Sauber drivers through practice and qualifying. He made a "mega" start to the race to run 14th, before slipping back as others found their feet.

The Brazilian survived a brush with Ocon during mission 'hamper Manor', and might have beaten Ericsson without a precautionary front wing change.

14 Fernando Alonso
McLaren-Honda MP4-31

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

Rating: 8

Alonso was relentless as usual here, taking advantage of Williams's underperformance in Q2 (Bottas) and Q3 (Massa) to squeak his McLaren ahead of both on the grid.

He dropped behind Massa at the first round of stops, so drove a long second stint to set up a late charge, which almost paid off as he homed in on Massa and Perez.

22 Jenson Button
McLaren-Honda MP4-31

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

Rating: 6

Button has had a rough ride recently, but he performed better here than at recent grands prix, getting closer to Alonso in qualifying than at any time since Japan, four races ago.

What may well turn out to be Button's final race in F1 ended before it really got going, the car's suspension failing after he clouted the Turn 9 apex kerb on lap 12.

31 Esteban Ocon
Manor-Mercedes MRT-05

Start: 20th
Finish: 13th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/soft/super-soft)

Rating: 7

The 2017 Force India signing impressively outpaced Wehrlein on Friday, despite sitting out the first session, but described qualifying as a "disaster" as he struggled to make the ultra-soft tyre work.

His Manor was battle-scarred in the race, surviving separate collisions with Magnussen's Renault, Nasr's Sauber, and team-mate Wehrlein, but Ocon achieved a reasonable result despite being an apparent magnet for other cars.

94 Pascal Wehrlein
Manor-Mercedes MRT-05

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

Rating: 7

Wehrlein was the unsung hero of qualifying, making Q2 for the fifth time with a little help from Toro Rosso's woes. He got shuffled back on the first lap after getting delayed by Verstappen's spin, and lost 12s to a slow first pitstop, but drove well to recover ahead of both Saubers and Ocon, before their late collision.

8 Romain Grosjean
Haas-Ferrari VF-16

Start: 14th
Finish: 11th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/soft/super-soft)

Rating: 7

Grosjean suffered a lot of niggling problems that disrupted his Friday, which Haas can ill-afford while it remains inexperienced. Grosjean felt the tyres were always behaving out of sync, and couldn't repeat his qualifying heroics from Brazil.

The early part of the race was tricky, but once things settled down his pace was strong, and he beat Gutierrez comfortably.

21 Esteban Gutierrez
Haas-Ferrari VF-16

Start: 13th
Finish: 12th
Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/soft/soft)

Rating: 6

Gutierrez did well to squeak ahead of Grosjean in qualifying, having trailed him in Q1. The race was a bit messy early on, as Haas got shuffled back and Gutierrez got outmuscled by Palmer's Renault.

He said the strategy compromised him, leaving him a lot of work recovering through traffic, but his pace was also patchy, requiring the team to hurry him along.