Chinese Grand Prix driver ratings

44 LEWIS HAMILTON
Mercedes F1 W08

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

Rating: 10

Mercedes admits it is not yet fully on top of its new car, following the travails of the winter, but Hamilton made the difference against Ferrari again in qualifying to bag pole.

He was untroubled in the race thanks to Vettel's strategic misfortune, but Hamilton cannot be faulted for the way he expertly controlled a hectic grand prix from the front.

77 VALTTERI BOTTAS
Mercedes F1 W08

Start: 3rd
Finish: 6th
Strategy: 2 stops (intermediate/soft/soft)

Rating: 7

Mercedes gave Bottas deserved praise for halving his pace deficit to Hamilton in China, as he lapped only 0.187s behind in qualifying and got agonisingly close to beating Vettel.

Bottas felt he should have finished second here, but a jack problem at his first pitstop and an "amateur" spin while warming his tyres behind the safety car cost him dearly. Apart from that he drove well.

3 DANIEL RICCIARDO
Red Bull-Renault RB13

Start: 5th
Finish: 4th
Strategy: 2 stops (intermediate/super-soft/super-soft)

Rating: 8

Ricciardo was quite happy with the balance of his car in qualifying, but Red Bull's lack of downforce and power meant he was cast adrift in no-man's land behind Mercedes and Ferrari.

He was outshone by team-mate Verstappen through the first half of the race, before a front wing change transformed the car's handling and got Ricciardo painfully close to a podium finish.

33 MAX VERSTAPPEN
Red Bull-Renault RB13

Start: 16th
Finish: 3rd
Strategy: 2 stops (intermediate/super-soft/super-soft)

Rating: 10

Verstappen is arguably the best driver on the grid racing in mixed conditions. His pure confidence and reflexes negated Saturday's ignition coil problem, as Verstappen waltzed past nine rivals on the opening lap, made mincemeat of Raikkonen's Ferrari, and beat his own team-mate in a wheel-to-wheel fight.

Rooting the front tyres allowed Vettel through, but this was still an outstanding performance.

5 SEBASTIAN VETTEL
Ferrari SF70H

Start: 2nd
Finish: 2nd
Strategy: 2 stops (intermediate/soft/soft)

Rating: 10

Vettel admitted he "chickened" on the brakes into the final corner in Q3, but didn't think pole was within reach regardless - even though he had topped final practice again.

His race was an outstanding performance in adversity not of his own making. Vettel overtook Raikkonen and Ricciardo decisively and chased Hamilton gamely after his safety-car setback, but the mountain was just too big to climb in the end.

7 KIMI RAIKKONEN
Ferrari SF70H

Start: 4th
Finish: 5th
Strategy: 2 stops (intermediate/soft/super-soft)

Rating: 6

Raikkonen was happier here than in Melbourne, but continues to be troubled by understeer and cannot seem to find a way to drive around it.

He was too far off in Q3, after looking decent in Q2, and was shown up by the way Vettel raced the Red Bulls. Even Ferrari's president was critical, so the pressure is really on to fix things for Bahrain.

11 SERGIO PEREZ
Force India-Mercedes VJM10

Start: 8th
Finish: 9th
Strategy: 3 stops (intermediate/super-soft/super-soft/super-soft)

Rating: 7

Perez did well to qualify eighth in a car that didn't look top-10 fast in practice - though he was lucky Giovinazzi's crash stopped others bumping him out in Q1.

He recovered decently after botching the race start, survived a collision with Stroll, and might have beaten Magnussen but for getting stuck behind Alonso and burning up his tyres.

31 ESTEBAN OCON
Force India-Mercedes VJM10

Start: 17th
Finish: 10th
Strategy: 2 stops (intermediate/soft/super-soft)

Rating: 8

Ocon didn't qualify well on a track he doesn't know, but both his Q1 runs were spoiled by yellow flags and it's possible he would have bumped Perez out had Giovinazzi not crashed.

Driving through the pits unnecessarily on lap two after a "miscommunication" cost him valuable time, but he drove very well to recover into the points again, only 6.578s behind his team-mate.

18 LANCE STROLL
Williams-Mercedes FW40

Start: 10th
Finish: Retired
Strategy: (intermediate/retired)

Rating: 6

Williams's rookie felt steering changes transformed the car after a difficult debut in Melbourne, and he was in much better form here on another track he hadn't seen before.

Making Q3 was decent, but Stroll used the best of his engine modes to get there and got slower as the session progressed. He had no chance in the race thanks to an unfortunate collision with Perez on the first lap.

19 FELIPE MASSA
Williams-Mercedes FW40

Start: 6th
Finish: 14th
Strategy: 3 stops (intermediate/soft/super-soft/super-soft)

Rating: 4

It briefly looked as though Massa might bother Ricciardo's Red Bull in qualifying, but ultimately that proved well out of reach and the Williams came closer to getting beaten by Hulkenberg's slower Renault.

His race was a disaster - Massa lost ground at the start, lost tyre temperature behind the safety car, dropped to the back of the midfield, and never recovered. Very disappointing.

2 STOFFEL VANDOORNE
McLaren-Honda MCL32

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

Rating: 5

Another difficult weekend for Vandoorne, who lapped more than half-a-second behind Alonso in Q1 and got dumped out after a "scrappy" lap.

He didn't make any progress at the start of the race and made little impression on proceedings generally, before a fuel problem put him out of his misery with only 17 laps on the board.

14 FERNANDO ALONSO
McLaren-Honda MCL32

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

Rating: 10

Another outstanding effort from Alonso in tough circumstances. Whether qualifying 13th was a "divine present" or not, making the top 10 in Q1 - splitting the Toro Rossos and almost matching Hulkenberg's Renault - was excellent.

He maximised the mixed conditions to put McLaren-Honda in the hunt for unlikely points, looking set to beat Magnussen until the transmission developed a fatal leak.

26 DANIIL KVYAT
Toro Rosso-Renault STR12

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

Rating: 7

Kvyat was narrowly the best of the two Toro Rosso drivers in qualifying, and nip and tuck with Perez's Force India too.

He put himself in a great position with a strong opening lap in the race, but Kvyat's weekend petered out as he struggled on slicks in the mixed conditions and dropped out of the points, before a hydraulic problem stopped his car.

55 CARLOS SAINZ JR
Toro Rosso-Renault STR12

Start: 11th
Finish: 7th
Strategy: 1 stop (super-soft/soft)

Rating: 10

I'm overlooking Sainz qualifying a tenth behind Kvyat, and smacking the barrier early in the race, to award a perfect score. His ultimate performance in the race merits that.

He was outstanding after that early scrape on slicks on a treacherous track - keeping up with the frontrunning pack for 11 laps after the restart, and proving a class apart from the midfield.

8 ROMAIN GROSJEAN
Haas-Ferrari VF-17

Start: 19th
Finish: 11th
Strategy: 3 stops (intermediate/super-soft/soft/super-soft)

Rating: 7

Grosjean messed up his first Q1 run with a spin, but was looking comfortably fast enough for Q2 before Giovinazzi crashed. He was so annoyed by the penalty for not aborting that lap that he tweeted his data!

The race's early pit shuffle prompted by the safety car dropped him to last, and getting stuck behind Palmer ruined his recovery. Grosjean eventually cleared both Renaults and Massa's Williams with bold overtaking.

20 KEVIN MAGNUSSEN
Haas-Ferrari VF-17

Start: 12th
Finish: 8th
Strategy: 2 stops (intermediate/super-soft/super-soft)

Rating: 8

Not the absolute cleanest qualifying performance from Magnussen again, as he missed out on getting into Q3 by just 0.074s, but he drove a very decent race in tough conditions to bag his first points for Haas.

Magnussen kept his nose clean early on as others faltered and managed his tyres well, which helped him beat both Force Indias convincingly in the end.

27 NICO HULKENBERG
Renault RS17

Start: 7th
Finish: 12th
Strategy: 2 stops (intermediate/soft/super-soft)

Rating: 7

Hulkenberg surprised himself by qualifying seventh, only 0.073s behind Massa's Williams, which was a great effort in a car not yet considered the most potent in the midfield.

He passed Massa for sixth at the start, but was undone by several spins after an early stop for slicks, before 15s of penalties for overtaking under the safety cars curtailed any remaining hope of points.

30 JOLYON PALMER
Renault RS17

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

Rating: 5

Lapping ninth fastest in practice suggested Palmer was in the midfield mix, but he flat-spotted his first set of tyres in Q1, so dropped out, and was penalised for improving after Giovinazzi's crash.

Palmer felt pitting for slicks on the formation lap was correct, but he struggled badly after the restart and fell back. Matching Hulkenberg in the final stint was the only bright spot.

9 MARCUS ERICSSON
Sauber-Ferrari C36

Start: 14th
Finish: 15th
Strategy: 1 stop (intermediate/soft)

Rating: 5

Ericsson needed two laps to narrowly outqualify rookie team-mate Giovinazzi again, after lapping nearly four tenths slower on his first effort. Giovinazzi's subsequent crash ensured his team-mate's passage to Q2.

Though he started the race well enough, Ericsson was another to struggle badly on slicks in the damp. In fact, he never got the tyres working all race and was cast adrift at the back.

36 ANTONIO GIOVINAZZI
Sauber-Ferrari C36

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

Rating: 4

Sauber's Melbourne hero didn't cover himself in glory in China, after another call-up to replace Pascal Wehrlein.

Briefly outpacing Ericsson in Q1 despite not knowing the track gave another glimpse of Giovinazzi's talent, but this good work was undone by two massive shunts on the main straight - first in Q1 then again on lap four of the race. A weekend to forget ultimately.