Australian Grand Prix driver ratings

44 LEWIS HAMILTON
Mercedes F1 W08

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

Rating: 9

Hamilton was untouchable in Friday practice, and when it really counted in qualifying it was he who made the difference in a tight battle with Ferrari.

Mercedes chose to pit him early rather than stick out the early race with Vettel, which turned out to be the wrong call. Hamilton's pace on softs was also a little underwhelming, but the race was lost by then.

77 VALTTERI BOTTAS
Mercedes F1 W08

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

Rating: 8

Bottas was hard on himself after qualifying fractionally behind Vettel's Ferrari and 0.293 seconds slower than Hamilton, but Nico Rosberg never got closer than 0.360s in Melbourne when he was Hamilton's team-mate, so in that context Bottas did well.

He couldn't run with the leaders early on, but he was quicker than Hamilton on softs and finished close behind. A very solid start to life at his new team.

3 DANIEL RICCIARDO
Red Bull-Renault RB13

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

Rating: 5

The home hero was the faster Red Bull driver in practice, and fractionally ahead of Verstappen after Q2 as well, but destroyed his weekend by uncharacteristically binning his car in Q3 - a crash he called "weird" considering he wasn't trying harder through Turn 14 at the time.

Problems with a gearbox sensor and the fuel cell on his car rendered the race a truncated waste of time.

33 MAX VERSTAPPEN
Red Bull-Renault RB13

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

Rating: 9

Verstappen lost track time to a couple of offs on Friday and wasn't happy with the RB13 after qualifying, complaining it was difficult to set up, had shifting balance, lacked downforce and was down on power.

He looked cast into a no man's land behind Ferrari and Mercedes, but was more competitive in the race and chased Raikkonen relentlessly until the brakes gave out.

5 SEBASTIAN VETTEL
Ferrari SF70H

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

Rating: 10

Vettel superbly split the Mercedes drivers, and outqualified his team-mate Raikkonen by well over half a second, in a car that wasn't absolutely the fastest around Albert Park.

He didn't make a great start, but fended off Bottas and put Hamilton under such relentless pressure during a mega opening stint that the pre-race favourite cracked. With a little help from Verstappen, that was job done.

7 KIMI RAIKKONEN
Ferrari SF70H

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

Rating: 6

Raikkonen loses marks for qualifying so far behind Vettel, admitting "all of my laps were not very good".

His struggles with understeer continued in the first stint of the race, during which he was also too conservative with tyre management. The second stint was underwhelming too, as he fell back towards Verstappen. Raikkonen put this down to a need to save fuel.

11 SERGIO PEREZ
Force India-Mercedes VJM10

Start: 10th
Finish: 7th
Strategy: 1 stop (ultra-soft/soft)

Rating: 10

Perez feels Force India lacks a bit of downforce compared to its midfield rivals, but he missed the Q3 cut by less than a tenth - complaining of some engine hesitations while shifting through the gears.

He superbly beat both Toro Rossos in the race - lunging Kvyat at Turn 10 on lap one, and braving it round the outside of Sainz at Turn 3. Top job.

31 ESTEBAN OCON
Force India-Mercedes VJM10

Start: 13th
Finish: 10th
Strategy: 1 stop (ultra-soft/soft)

Rating: 7

Force India's new signing was steady away on an unfamiliar track, not helped by a litany of problems (leaky brakes, leaky drinks bottle, short radio cable, loose mirrors) in first practice, but he blamed the large qualifying deficit to Perez on a simple mistake.

Ocon got stuck behind Alonso in the race, but did well to force an opening and brave out a three-wide moment with the McLaren and Hulkenberg.

18 LANCE STROLL
Williams-Mercedes FW40

Start: 20th
Finish: Retired
Strategy: (super-soft/ultra-soft/ultra-soft/retired)

Rating: 4

Stroll was nowhere near Massa in Melbourne. The 0.2s gap on Friday afternoon was the only time he got anywhere near - and that was in a session where Massa's car failed before he could do a performance run. Stroll then crashed on Saturday morning, which meant only one run in qualifying - and that was slower than Stroll went in Friday practice.

He flat-spotted his tyres at Turn 1 in the race, which forced an early stop. He managed to overtake Ericsson's Sauber, before a suspected brake failure forced an early bath.

19 FELIPE MASSA
Williams-Mercedes FW40

Start: 7th
Finish: 6th
Strategy: 1 stop (ultra-soft/super-soft)

Rating: 10

Massa's first race since coming out of retirement was faultless. He got outqualified by Grosjean, but Williams agreed Massa's Q3 lap was good, so the 0.369s gap to the Haas was probably unbridgeable.

Massa rendered it a moot point by nailing Grosjean at the start of the race, and he was the only non-Mercedes/Ferrari/Red Bull driver to remain unlapped. As he said, "not bad for an old boy!".

2 STOFFEL VANDOORNE
McLaren-Honda MCL32

Start: 18th
Finish: 13th
Strategy: 1 stop (ultra-soft/soft)

Rating: 6

Vandoorne recovered from a tough Friday to lap just 0.143s shy of Alonso in final practice, but fuel pressure problems ruined qualifying, and cold front tyres and locking brakes left him nearly a second off and out in Q1.

The race was a hard slog, not helped by needing to reset his engine at the pitstop thanks to electrical problems. At least he finished...

14 FERNANDO ALONSO
McLaren-Honda MCL32

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

Rating: 9

This was a heroic performance from Alonso, who looked on it from the moment he first hit the track in free practice. Despite an obvious lack of power, he manhandled his car into Q2 - ahead of Ocon's Force India.

Alonso almost beat Ocon to the final point too, despite carrying damage, before retiring to the pits after making a mistake and finally being overtaken.

26 DANIIL KVYAT
Toro Rosso-Renault STR12

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

Rating: 7

This was a good start from Kvyat, who pressured Sainz all weekend. He qualified on the same tenth as his team-mate, but probably should have stayed ahead after beating him in Q2.

Kvyat got jumped by Perez on lap one but was coming back at the Force India after a mammoth 34-lap first stint on ultra-softs, before an unscheduled stop to recharge air in the engine spoiled the fun.

55 CARLOS SAINZ JR
Toro Rosso-Renault STR12

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

Rating: 8

A solid weekend, in which he was ultimately slightly quicker than Kvyat in every session bar Q2 despite losing his way with the car on Saturday.

Sainz made a solid start to the race, but lost out to Perez's bravery at Turn 3 just after the stops. He allowed Kvyat through to attack the Force India, and gained the place back when Kvyat pitted with problems.

8 ROMAIN GROSJEAN
Haas-Ferrari VF-17

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

Rating: 9

Grosjean was a bit wild in the early part of qualifying, but he hooked it up brilliantly at the right moment to qualify Haas a best-yet sixth on the grid - showing what he is capable of when he doesn't overdrive.

He reported a clutch problem before the start and lost a place to Massa, before retiring early when his car sprung a leak.

20 KEVIN MAGNUSSEN
Haas-Ferrari VF-17

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

Rating: 6

A messy weekend for Magnussen, who had a difficult Friday and only managed one run in practice three before Stroll crashed - which meant flying blind in qualifying. He reckoned he was only a tenth off Grosjean before going off at Turn 12 on his best lap.

The race was ruined by a clumsy collision with Ericsson, before what the team initially thought was a suspension problem but turned out to be a puncture forced him out while running last.

27 NICO HULKENBERG
Renault RS17

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

Rating: 7

Hulkenberg described qualifying as "decent", and that's probably a fair description of his first race with Renault too.

He got mugged by Alonso after Kvyat blocked his overtaking attempt, and felt the team "shot ourselves in the foot" by pitting too late, losing another place to Ocon instead of repassing Alonso. He enjoyed going three wide late-on, but just missed out on 10th place.

30 JOLYON PALMER
Renault RS17

Start: 19th
Finish: Retired
Strategy: (soft/retired)

Rating: 3

This was a nightmare weekend for Palmer, who managed only 22 laps in four hours of practice, thanks to a gearbox problem and a costly crash.

The car was repaired, but suffered fuel surge in qualifying, and Palmer's first and only run on ultra-softs was slower than his best Friday time on super-softs. He was more comfortable in the race, until the brakes jammed.

9 MARCUS ERICSSON
Sauber-Ferrari C36

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

Rating: 7

Ericsson was impressed by the job his rookie team-mate Giovinazzi did at such short notice in qualifying, and admitted he needed a good lap to beat the Italian to the final Q2 spot.

He made a bad start, then got turned around by Magnussen's Haas at Turn 3, which damaged the floor. Ericsson soldiered on for 21 laps until a hydraulic problem stopped him for good.

36 ANTONIO GIOVINAZZI
Sauber-Ferrari C36

Start: 16th
Finish: 12th
Strategy: 1 stop (soft/super-soft)

Rating: 9

The GP2 graduate faced tough odds subbing for Wehrlein at the last second and driving Albert Park for the first time in final practice, but Giovinazzi did an outstanding job - getting up to speed so rapidly he was faster than Ericsson initially in Q1 and ending up within two tenths when the Swede improved at the death.

He drove a smart race, beat Vandoorne's McLaren, and seriously impressed Sauber.