Mexican Grand Prix driver ratings

44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes F1 W08

Start: 3rd

Finish: 9th

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

Rating: 8

Hamilton should have improved on his second Q3 run, and while his Turn 3 move on the first lap was bold he didn't deserve to get a puncture.

His recovery started a little slowly on softs, but even with damage to the diffuser he was able to start to make good progress to salvage two points for ninth. One of his lesser performances in an otherwise spectacular season.

77 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes F1 W08

Start: 4th

Finish: 2nd

Strategy: 1 stop (ultra-soft/super-soft)

Rating: 8

Bottas was bang on Hamilton's pace in qualifying, and could do nothing about Verstappen in the race.

It's difficult to compare his performance to his team-mate's on Sunday, given their different race situations and strategies, but Bottas seemed to have decent enough race pace on his way to a solid second place. Revelling on the low-abrasion surface, this was a handy weekend's work.

3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault RB13

Start: 13th

Finish: DNF

Strategy: (ultra-soft/retired)

Rating: 6

Ricciardo was quick on Friday, but struggled to switch on the tyres throughout qualifying and ended up a lacklustre seventh fastest.

After taking a strategic power unit component penalty and falling to 13th, he climbed back to seventh on the first lap amid the early chaos. That should have laid the foundation for a podium challenge but for the turbo letting him down. Good but not as strong as his team-mate.

33 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Renault RB13

Start: 2nd

Finish: 1st

Strategy: 1 stop (ultra-soft/super-soft)

Rating: 9

The only negative about Verstappen's weekend was the failure to improve on his second Q3 run and losing pole position to Vettel.

Other than that, he was quick, controlled the race well, toughed it out with Vettel on the first lap and never looked like losing victory. The missed pole position slot costs him a mark, as the driver plays a key role in switching on the tyres.

5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari SF70H

Start: 1st

Finish: 4th

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

Rating: 8

Vettel's pole lap was superb, although seemingly inadvertently knocking it into first at Turn 6 did cost him a little.

He might just have avoided the clash with Hamilton on the first lap, but once down in 19th he did a very good job to charge through the field, passing quickly and decisively - notably in getting ahead of Perez. A great performance slightly undermined by a couple of messy moments.

7 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari SF70H

Start: 5th

Finish: 3rd

Strategy: 1 stop (ultra-soft/soft)

Rating: 6

Qualifying was mediocre, and while the race result was solid it was helped by the premature stops of the Force Indias and Hulkenberg and the timing of the VSC.

Vettel gained 10s on Raikkonen from lap two to the end despite having to charge from 19th - while Raikkonen had less imperative to push as he had third sewn up, that still says a lot.

11 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes VJM10

Start: 9th

Finish: 7th

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

Rating: 7

Perez banked a decent result after a slightly underwhelming Q3 performance, and while he was the second-best Force India driver on the weekend the gap to Ocon wasn't too big.

Stopping early cost him places to Raikkonen and Stroll, but had he been able to match Ocon's form he might have been able to finish ahead of both. Small margins made a big difference.

31 Esteban Ocon Force India-Mercedes VJM10

Start: 6th

Finish: 5th

Strategy: 1 stop (ultra-soft/soft)

Rating: 9

The home favourite's team-mate qualified and raced exceptionally well, running third early on and only losing positions to the faster Ferraris of Raikkonen and Vettel. That, combined with the timing of the VSC, allowed Raikkonen to jump him.

Thereafter, Ocon dealt with the threat from Stroll with ease. This was an excellent performance from Ocon, who gets better and better with every weekend.

18 Lance Stroll Williams-Mercedes FW40

Start: 11th

Finish: 6th

Strategy: 1 stop (ultra-soft/super-soft)

Rating: 7

Stroll opted to throw caution to the wind on his qualifying lap knowing he could do no worse than 12th and might sneak into Q3, which backfired when he lost a heap of time in the stadium section.

But as is often the case, once he had track position he raced well, using the right strategy, to bag his best finish since Baku.

19 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes FW40

Start: 10th

Finish: 11th

Strategy: 1 stop (ultra-soft/soft)

Rating: 7

Massa had the performance edge on Stroll in qualifying, although the gap of over a second was largely down to Stroll going too aggressive in the stadium section.

A slow puncture picked up in the first corner forced an early stop for Massa. He drove well in a marathon stint, fighting his corner when he needed to, but couldn't quite deliver any points.

2 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren-Honda MCL32

Start: 19th

Finish: 12th

Strategy: 1 stop (ultra-soft/super-soft)

Rating: 6

A solid weekend for Vandoorne, but he couldn't quite match the pace of Alonso in either qualifying or the race.

He did play the team game by letting Alonso past, which proved to be a good decision, but wasn't quite able to haul the McLaren from the back to a points finish. This left him on the periphery of the top 10 throughout the race.

14 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda MCL32

Start: 18th

Finish: 10th

Strategy: 1 stop (ultra-soft/super-soft)

Rating: 9

Alonso drove with his typical determination and verve during qualifying (he was fifth fastest in Q1) and the race, which included giving Hamilton a hard time as he tried to hang onto ninth.

It's hard to say he could have done much better, but it wouldn't have taken much to finish eighth and had he been able to pass Magnussen he could have done so. That's tricky with a Honda engine, though.

10 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso-Renault STR12

Start: 20th

Finish: 13th

Strategy: 1 stop (ultra-soft/super-soft)

Rating: 7

After sitting out the United States Grand Prix, and with no experience of the Mexico City circuit, Gasly really didn't need to complete a grand total of 12 practice laps thanks to a combination of engine problems and Sean Gelael using his car on Friday morning.

So to be in the same ballpark as Hartley, albeit not showing quite the same pace, was a decent performance.

39 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso-Renault STR12

Start: 17th

Finish: DNF

Strategy: (ultra-soft/retired)

Rating: 8

There's no question that Hartley took everything he learned at Austin and applied it to a far more rounded performance at Mexico City.

He was doing well in qualifying before his engine stopped cooperating before he'd set a Q2 time, and he showed decent pace in the race, albeit in a car that didn't look to be a points threat, before retiring.

8 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari VF-17

Start: 15th

Finish: 15th

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

Rating: 5

During qualifying Grosjean extracted much the same performance out of a not-especially-quick car as Magnussen, but he didn't get the same out of it in the race.

While Magnussen did have a track position advantage at the start, Grosjean made his life harder by clashing with Alonso and pitting for a new nose, picking up a penalty for exceeding track limits and two-stopping. Messy.

20 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari VF-17

Start: 14th

Finish: 8th

Strategy: 1 stop (ultra-soft/soft)

Rating: 10

Magnussen described his race as a victory, and he was right because he comfortably won his 'class' despite being in a car lacking in pace and not easy to drive.

It wouldn't have taken much to slip behind Alonso and Hamilton and out of the points, but after shading Grosjean in qualifying he was the more impressive driver at making the best of a tough race. Luck played a part, but he used it well.

27 Nico Hulkenberg Renault RS17

Start: 7th

Finish: DNF

Strategy: (ultra-soft/soft/retired)

Rating: 8

Hulkenberg performed strongly throughout the weekend and managed to pull a three-tenth gap on Sainz in Q3. He carried that form into the race, running fourth in the first stint before pitting in response to Perez's stop.

This would have cost him, but for an ERS problem forcing him out after 24 laps. A typically formidable performance from Hulkenberg.

55 Carlos Sainz Jr Renault RS17

Start: 8th

Finish: DNF

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

Rating: 6

Sainz looked to be struggling in Friday practice but recovered well and pushed Hulkenberg until the final stages of qualifying, when he slotted in three tenths behind him.

A high-speed spin on the second lap forced him in for an early stop and effectively ruined his race. Sainz's underlying pace seemed fine, but he couldn't escape traffic before retiring.

9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari C36

Start: 12th

Finish: DNF

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

Rating: 9

Ericsson had a very strong weekend in Mexico, recovering from sitting out the first free practice session to lead the way for Sauber throughout.

Grid penalties for others meant he started artificially high, but he put that track position to brilliant use and was strong enough on the mains straight to keep cars behind. The VSC timing had cost him a likely points shot even before the engine let him down.

94 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber-Ferrari C36

Start: 13th

Finish: 14th

Strategy: 1 stop (ultra-soft/soft)

Rating: 6

Wehrlein was giving away a little pace to Ericsson in qualifying, around a tenth-and-a-half, and that proved very costly in the race as he ended up on the more unusual strategy thanks to weaker track position.

Even so, finishing 20s behind Gasly wasn't ideal, although part of that was down to Wehrlein's marathon stint on softs. He was clearly the second Sauber driver this weekend.