Singapore Grand Prix driver ratings

44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes F1 W08

Start: 5th

Finish: 1st

Strategy: 1 stop (inter/ultra-soft)

Rating: 10

The only thing you can mark Hamilton down on is the fact that perhaps he didn't quite get the maximum out of the closing stages of his Q3 lap and could have outqualified Raikkonen.

But beyond that, he was exemplary, wiping the floor with his team-mate and executing a superb race in a car that looked very third favourite at the start.

77 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes F1 W08

Start: 6th

Finish: 3rd

Strategy: 1 stop (inter/ultra-soft)

Rating: 6

Bottas simply could not live with Hamilton in Singapore and was visibly less comfortable with rotating the rear on the brakes on turn in and, in particular, he struggled with managing the wheelspin in the corner exit phase.

It wasn't that he drove badly as such, but he wasn't on the same level as his team-mate. Even so, by bringing it home and avoiding trouble he bagged a good, solid result.

3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault RB13

Start: 3rd

Finish: 2nd

Strategy: 2 stops (inter/inter/ultra-soft)

Rating: 8

Ricciardo always flies in Singapore, but even with Verstappen doing him a favour and fluffing his second Q3 attempt the Australian couldn't beat him.

That, and a mediocre start that helped Hamilton gain crucial track position, are the only criticisms of Ricciardo who drove an excellent race considering he was nursing a gearbox problem and never had a hope of beating Hamilton.

33 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Renault RB13

Start: 2nd

Finish: DNF

Strategy: retired (inter/retired)

Rating: 8

There is a school of thought that Verstappen is always the master of his own downfall, and it's easy to shoe-horn what happened at the start in Singapore into that narrative.

But he wasn't to blame for the incident at the start of the race. It was disappointing that he didn't make a better fist of going for pole and failed to improve on his second Q3 run.

5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari SF70H

Start: 1st

Finish: DNF

Strategy: retired (inter/retired)

Rating: 4

Vettel grabbed a superb pole position with a couple of flamboyant laps that, while not perfect, had him grabbing the car by the scruff of the neck brilliantly.

But it wasn't the percentage play of a championship contender to squeeze Verstappen after a so-so start and, regardless of the stewards' decision to punish nobody, he was responsible for squandering a great opportunity by triggering the crash. His rating is a reflection of this.

7 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari SF70H

Start: 4th

Finish: DNF

Strategy: retired (inter/retired)

Rating: 6

Raikkonen never looked at one with the car during practice, and the fact that he was slightly better in qualifying but still 0.463 seconds off Vettel shows how tricky a weekend he was having.

But he made a stunning start, wasn't to blame for the crash and would have had a shot at victory had he not been wiped out through no fault of his own.

11 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes VJM10

Start: 12th

Finish: 5th

Strategy: 2 stops (wet/inter/ultra-soft)

Rating: 8

Perez never looked entirely at home with the way the Force India handled the bumps of Singapore, but he does know how to hustle a car round Marina Bay in races.

The only thing you could question about his well-executed race is whether he should have passed Sainz early in the final stint when he had a tyre advantage. But it would be harsh to blame him for that.

31 Esteban Ocon Force India-Mercedes VJM10

Start: 14th

Finish: 10th

Strategy: 3 stops (wets/inter/ultra-soft/ultra-soft)

Rating: 6

This wasn't Ocon's best performance, but it wasn't quite as disappointing as the result suggests.

Shaded by Perez in qualifying, Ocon didn't seem as comfortable as his team-mate in the wet conditions that he's usually happy in, either on pace or in battle, and was regularly disadvantaged by poor track position that heavily compromised his race. But he at least salvaged a point.

18 Lance Stroll Williams-Mercedes FW40

Start: 18th

Finish: 8th

Strategy: 1 stop (inter/ultra-soft)

Rating: 7

The Williams wasn't blessed with great grip in Singapore and Stroll struggled to match Massa for pace, but in the race he was on the right strategy and survived tricky conditions to bag some points.

There were a couple of mistakes, once running off track and allowing Vandoorne to pass him and then kissing the wall late on, but he did a good job to keep Grosjean behind.

19 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes FW40

Start: 17th

Finish: 11th

Strategy: 3 stops (wet/inter/ultra-soft/ultra-soft)

Rating: 7

His pace was fundamentally stronger than Stroll's, but Massa had a difficult race, which wasn't helped by starting on wets compared to his team-mate's inters.

From there he never managed to recover, including a strange battle under the safety car with Vandoorne, although his pace wasn't really a problem. This was just one of those races that started off on the wrong foot and never turned around.

2 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren-Honda MCL32

Start: 9th

Finish: 7th

Strategy: 2 stops (wet/inter/ultra-soft)

Rating: 8

Vandoorne looked very at ease on the streets of Singapore, and gave his team-mate a run for his money before qualifying a couple of tenths down. He drove a tidy, effective race and was rewarded with the best finish of his grand prix career.

He wasn't far off Palmer, but given Renault seemed to have the edge all weekend it's hard to argue Vandoorne should have finished higher.

14 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda MCL32

Start: 8th

Finish: DNF

Strategy: retired (wets/retired)

Rating: 9

Alonso performed with his usual verve and commitment in qualifying, and he needed to with ever-improving team-mate Vandoorne breathing down his neck.

His flying start was momentarily rewarded with third place, which would have become second when Vettel speared off the road, but the start collision caught up with him at Turn 1. He battled on for a while in a damaged car but was effectively out of the race at the first corner.

26 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Renault STR12

Start: 13th

Finish: DNF

Strategy: retired (inter/retired)

Rating: 5

Kyvat couldn't match Sainz's pace and while he struggled to switch the tyres on in Q2 so did his team-mate, who still got through to Q3.

His race was feisty as far as it went, which was only to Turn 7 on lap 11 when he grabbed a front brake and piled into the barrier. Understandable given the conditions, but he was the only one to make the error.

55 Carlos Sainz Jr Toro Rosso-Renault STR12

Start: 10th

Finish: 4th

Strategy: 1 stop (inter/super-soft)

Rating: 9

About the only criticisms you can level at Sainz are that he didn't get the best out of the car in Q3 because he couldn't get the tyres working and let the revs drop too low at the start.

But he did a great job even to make the top 10 in qualifying, especially after sitting out a practice session for reserve driver Sean Gelael. As he usually does in tricky conditions, he executed the race brilliantly and held off Perez when he needed to.

8 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari VF-17

Start: 15th

Finish: 9th

Strategy: 1 stop (inter/ultra-soft)

Rating: 7

Grosjean had more than his fair share of off-track moments, but beat his team-mate into Q2 before struggling in the second stage of qualifying.

He had a strategic advantage over Magnussen in the race, and also one of pace, leading to his team-mate being asked to let him past shortly after both had switched to slicks. He passed Massa along the way for good measure.

20 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari VF-17

Start: 16th

Finish: DNF

Strategy: 3 stops (wet/inter/ultra-soft/ultra-soft)

Rating: 6

Magnussen had the disadvantage of sitting out the first free practice session to allow Antonio Giovinazzi to drive, but after making up for lost time he just missed out on Q2 after being shaded by Grosjean.

Starting on the wets worked against him, but he deserves credit for being bold enough to be the first on slicks even though he subsequently had to let the quicker Grosjean past. The MGU-K eventually let him down.

27 Nico Hulkenberg Renault RS17

Start: 7th

Finish: DNF

Strategy: 3 stops (wet/inter/ultra-soft/ultra-soft)

Rating: 10

The Renault didn't look like the easiest car to drive, but Hulkenberg handled it with virtuosity throughout the weekend and was robbed of a great result by an oil leak that eventually forced his retirement - as well as compromising his lap times at points during the race. Not that you'd know it as he managed to threaten Bottas for third place. Ill-rewarded for a great performance.

30 Jolyon Palmer Renault RS17

Start: 11th

Finish: 6th

Strategy: 2 stops (inter/inter/ultra-soft)

Rating: 8

This was, at last, the clean weekend that Palmer craved. He might have made Q3 but for the rear tyres getting away from him at the end of his second Q2 run, but after jumping to sixth amid the start chaos he had a good race.

He undeniably wasn't as fast as Hulkenberg, but amid huge pressure and the immediate threat of the axe, Palmer brought home a very useful points haul.

9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari C36

Start: 20th

Finish: DNF

Strategy: 4 stops (wet/wet/inter/soft)

Rating: 5

Ericsson seemed to be living a little close to the edge throughout the weekend, with a spin into the wall in qualifying guaranteeing him a start at the back of the grid thanks to gearbox damage before he looped it in the race - albeit after losing almost 20 seconds in his third pitstop. His pace was fine but there were too many errors.

94 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber-Ferrari C36

Start: 19th

Finish: 12th

Strategy: 4 stops (wet/wet/inter/ultra-soft/ultra-soft)

Rating: 6

Wehrlein had a cleaner weekend than his team-mate and, in dry conditions, seemed to have an edge on pace (although he lost time to Ericsson in the brief green-flag period when both were on inters) and certainly made fewer errors.

But Sauber left him out too long on wets aiming to go straight to slicks before making a late move to inters because the track dried too slowly.