Japanese Grand Prix driver ratings

44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes F1 W08

Start: 1st

Finish: 1st

Strategy: 1 stop (super-soft/soft)

Rating: 9

A sublime qualifying effort again from Hamilton, who got quicker with every lap and looks on a different level to his rivals on Saturdays at present.

The race was made easier by Vettel's problems, as Hamilton's start wasn't great. He also came under pressure from Verstappen at times. In the end he did just enough to get the job done, but no more.

77 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes F1 W08

Start: 6th

Finish: 4th

Strategy: 1 stop (soft/super-soft)

Rating: 7

Bottas was much better than he was at Sepang, but still a decent chunk off Hamilton in qualifying, after surviving a crash in final practice and a near-shunt in Q1.

Once past Vettel and Ocon in the race, Bottas's overall pace compared well to Hamilton's, and he wasn't far off catching Ricciardo, despite sacrificing time to roadblock Verstappen for Hamilton's victory cause. A return to respectability.

3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault RB13

Start: 3rd

Finish: 3rd

Strategy: 1 stop (super-soft/soft)

Rating: 8

Ricciardo felt Red Bull underperformed in qualifying at Suzuka, but there probably wasn't much more to come given the power deficit of the Renault engine and the tiny gap to Verstappen, despite using different aero configurations.

He near-enough matched Verstappen's pace in the race, but got outmuscled by his team-mate at Turn 1 after an iffy start, then spent too long stuck behind Ocon.

33 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Renault RB13

Start: 4th

Finish: 2nd

Strategy: 1 stop (super-soft/soft)

Rating: 9

The Malaysian GP winner felt sticking with Red Bull's higher downforce settings hurt him too much for the straights in qualifying, where he was less than three hundredths slower than Ricciardo. That was his only blot.

He aced the start, nailed Ricciardo and a hampered Vettel on lap one, and worried Hamilton with youthful tenacity, all while managing blistering tyres. Another fine drive.

5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari SF70H

Start: 2nd

Finish: Retired

Strategy: (super-soft/retired)

Rating: 9

Hamilton took all the plaudits of course, but Vettel's effort in almost splitting the two Mercedes in qualifying was Herculean too, given how prodigiously fast the silver cars were over one lap.

Vettel's start was impressive, given his engine had already lapsed onto five cylinders, but from there he was a sitting duck until Ferrari asked him to retire.

7 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari SF70H

Start: 10th

Finish: 5th

Strategy: 1 stop (soft/super-soft)

Rating: 6

Raikkonen felt he paid a "hefty price" for crashing in final practice. In terms of his grid penalty that's true, but it doesn't fully explain how decent Q1 pace went missing completely in Q3.

He got bullied off the road by Hulkenberg on lap one and took 20 laps to recover to fifth. His pace was respectable after that, 0.126s per lap slower than Hamilton.

11 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes VJM10

Start: 7th

Finish: 7th

Strategy: 1 stop (super-soft/soft)

Rating: 8

Having recovered from the virus that afflicted him in Malaysia, Perez was stronger in qualifying here, though not quite as strong as his team-mate.

That 0.149s proved vital, as Perez was told to hold station despite feeling he had the pace to attack Ocon in the race. Until Force India secures fourth in the championship, it's going to come down to qualifying.

31 Esteban Ocon Force India-Mercedes VJM10

Start: 5th

Finish: 6th

Strategy: 1 stop (super-soft/soft)

Rating: 9

Ocon found a good groove in Malaysia before his race unravelled, and he rediscovered it in Japan, again impressively qualifying best of the rest behind the big three teams.

He snuck opportunistically past Ricciardo on lap one and enjoyed a cameo in third place until the pace of the faster cars behind told. He was slightly quicker than Perez on super-softs; evenly-matched on softs.

18 Lance Stroll Williams-Mercedes FW40

Start: 15th

Finish: Retired

Strategy: (super-soft/soft/super-soft/retired)

Rating: 5

Stroll was impeded in Q1, but Williams said he wasn't fast enough to progress anyway and still needs too long to build up speed.

He rose to 11th on lap one, but punctured battling Magnussen so switched to a two-stop strategy, creating a race with Vandoorne. He was holding the McLaren off successfully until his Williams broke and pitched him off at speed.

19 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes FW40

Start: 8th

Finish: 10th

Strategy: 1 stop (super-soft/soft)

Rating: 7

Massa was really happy with his qualifying and so was the team, and it was pleasing to see him make Q3 after just missing out in Malaysia. He didn't have the greatest of races, though.

He struggled with degradation on both compounds and lost three points to Magnussen's opportunism. At least he clung to the final one in the face of Alonso's late onslaught.

2 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren-Honda MCL32

Start: 9th

Finish: 14th

Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/soft/super-soft)

Rating: 6

Vandoorne was pushing Alonso hard again in qualifying, but ended up fractionally slower after a weak second run in Q2.

Grid penalties handed Vandoorne a top 10 start, but he got eased off the track racing Raikkonen through the opening turns on lap one and plummeted to the back. He switched strategies, but got hemmed in behind Stroll and condemned to a forgettable race.

14 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda MCL32

Start: 20th

Finish: 11th

Strategy: 1 stop (super-soft/soft)

Rating: 8

Alonso was on better form in Japan, after the struggles of Malaysia, and was fractionally the quicker McLaren driver in qualifying.

His race was a study in clean execution and tyre management. He held up the leaders, couldn't pass Massa, and was fortunate the late VSC period stymied Palmer's charge, but it was still a strong effort to finish 11th having started last.

10 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso-Renault STR12

Start: 14th

Finish: 13th

Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/soft/super-soft)

Rating: 7

The newboy qualified poorly, and admitted to overdriving a car not as capable as the Red Bull he's tested before. He did a very solid job for 72% of the race - keeping pace with the Haas pair and Massa's Williams in the battle for eighth.

Then Gasly locked his brakes so badly he had to make an extra pitstop, which dropped him behind Alonso and Palmer.

55 Carlos Sainz Jr Toro Rosso-Renault STR12

Start: 19th

Finish: Retired

Strategy: (soft/retired)

Rating: 5

Sainz departed Toro Rosso with a whimper rather than a bang in Japan. He threw his car at the scenery on lap one, which was silly having built his strategy around saving tyres in qualifying knowing he would start at the back.

The only highlight was a strong lap in Q1, which split the McLarens and was way quicker than Gasly.

8 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari VF-17

Start: 13th

Finish: 9th

Strategy: 1 stop (super-soft/soft)

Rating: 7

Grosjean felt his Haas had the speed to be comfortably inside the top 10 in Q1, so adding more front wing after a "massive" moment at Turn 11 was probably ill-advised given his subsequent crash at the Esses.

He loses marks for that and a poor first lap - including an off at Spoon - but otherwise his race was decent as he chased Magnussen home.

20 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari VF-17

Start: 12th

Finish: 8th

Strategy: 1 stop (super-soft/soft)

Rating: 8

Magnussen did a good job to steal ahead of Palmer's Renault in Q2 and was only a couple of tenths shy of making Q3, though it's difficult to know whether more was possible given Grosjean's crash.

Magnussen's race was definitely strong, particularly his forceful and opportunistic pass of Massa at Turn 2, which gained both Haas drivers a position.

27 Nico Hulkenberg Renault RS17

Start: 11th

Finish: Retired

Strategy: (soft/super-soft/retired)

Rating: 8

Hulkenberg battled oversteer in qualifying and reckoned he gave up 0.15s in Q2, just enough to make Q3, so didn't quite get the most from it.

He drove well in the race - lunging past Raikkonen, and though he couldn't quite do enough to jump the Massa/Haas battle in the pits, looked a good bet to do it on track until his DRS stuck open.

30 Jolyon Palmer Renault RS17

Start: 18th

Finish: 12th

Strategy: 1 stop (soft/super-soft)

Rating: 7

A solid final grand prix in Renault colours for Palmer, who wasn't far off Hulkenberg's pace in Q2 until he messed up the final chicane on his second run.

He wasn't as fast as Hulkenberg in the race either, but an alternative strategy put Palmer in position to seriously threaten the Massa/Alonso battle for the final point, until that late VSC period intervened.

9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari C36

Start: 16th

Finish: Retired

Strategy: (soft/retired)

Rating: 7

Ericsson made one mistake in this grand prix, but it had massive consequences. He was almost three tenths faster than Wehrlein in qualifying, which is nearer half a second considering Ericsson's weight disadvantage.

He held his ground early on and was running ahead of Alonso, but took too much kerb exiting the first Degner and threw all his good work away.

94 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber-Ferrari C36

Start: 17th

Finish: 15th

Strategy: 3 stops (soft/super-soft/soft/soft)

Rating: 4

After a brilliant effort last time out in Malaysia, this was a terrible weekend for Wehrlein, who was near enough on Ericsson's pace in final practice but struggled to get his Sauber balanced through qualifying and the race.

Two early pitstops after lap one contact cut him well adrift of the pack and he finished last of those classified, two laps down.