Abu Dhabi Grand Prix driver ratings

44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes F1 W08

Start: 2nd

Finish: 2nd

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

Rating: 8

Ultimately, Hamilton lost this race by uncharacteristically failing to get it together when he really needed to in Q3. He preferred to see that as a "lesson" rather than a mistake, but he pushed for set-up changes that misjudged the circuit, so must carry the can.

He did everything he could in the race, but Bottas simply would not budge.

77 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes F1 W08

Start: 1st

Finish: 1st

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

Rating: 10

Vettel called Bottas's qualifying lap "mega" and it looked that way - clean and fast, and the biggest pole margin yet for Bottas.

He executed a very fine race too - all the more impressive given the need to respond after botching his big chance in Brazil. He withstood enormous pressure from his world champion team-mate to get the job done. It was Bottas at his best.

3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault RB13

Start: 4th

Finish: Retired

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

Rating: 10

After a disappointing couple of races, this was vintage Ricciardo. He found a harmony with the RB13 that escaped his team-mate and outstandingly split the Ferraris in qualifying.

Ricciardo resisted Raikkonen's challenge on lap one, then dropped him, and was keeping pace nicely with Vettel until a hydraulic problem ruined his day, so sadly had nothing to show for a top effort.

33 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Renault RB13

Start: 6th

Finish: 5th

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

Rating: 7

Verstappen was within two tenths of the pace in first practice, but never felt happy in the car thereafter, and gets marked down for being an unusually large amount off Ricciardo's pace in qualifying.

His race was fine. Verstappen was quicker than Raikkonen but got stuck behind the slower Ferrari for the duration. Even Verstappen can't produce overtaking miracles at Yas Marina.

5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari SF70H

Start: 3rd

Finish: 3rd

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

Rating: 9

The qualifying gap to Mercedes was the largest since Silverstone, but Vettel was still two tenths up on his team-mate.

He couldn't live with the Mercedes in the race either. He drove cleanly, apart from a lock-up into Turn 1 after the start, and coped better with Ferrari's fuel-saving demands than Raikkonen. A heavy defeat for Ferrari, but a decent effort from Vettel.

7 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari SF70H

Start: 5th

Finish: 4th

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

Rating: 6

Abu Dhabi was a disappointing performance from Raikkonen, who blamed tyre inconsistency for turning a 0.364s Q1 advantage over Vettel into a two-tenth Q3 deficit, which also allowed Ricciardo's Red Bull ahead.

Raikkonen said fuel-saving explained his underwhelming race, but Vettel had to do similar and was 26s up the road, lapping nearly half-a-second per lap quicker. They weigh similar, so Raikkonen should do better.

11 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes VJM10

Start: 8th

Finish: 7th

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

Rating: 8

The fact both Force India drivers did 1m38.3s laps in Q2 and Q3 implies there wasn't much left to come, but they were disappointed not to beat Hulkenberg to seventh, suggesting they could each have done a bit better on Saturday.

Perez was frustrated by Hulkenberg's lap-one chicane cut to stay ahead, but lacked the pace to mount a strategic counter attack.

31 Esteban Ocon Force India-Mercedes VJM10

Start: 9th

Finish: 8th

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

Rating: 7

There was nothing in it with Perez yet again in qualifying - this time the gap was only 0.023s, though Ocon felt he would have gone quicker without racing Bottas for track position in Q3.

He tried a different strategy by running a longer first stint than Perez, but didn't quite have the pace in clean air to make the difference.

18 Lance Stroll Williams-Mercedes FW40

Start: 15th

Finish: 18th

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

Rating: 3

Hard to see positives for Stroll, who made Q2 but was over a second off Massa - which was way too much, even with an old engine.

Stroll was beaten in battle by Grosjean and struggled massively with the car almost throughout. He clearly found the race stressful and made too many pitstops. A Williams should not have finished more than a minute behind Grosjean's Haas.

19 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes FW40

Start: 10th

Finish: 10th

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

Rating: 8

Williams called Massa's qualifying effort "perfect" as he managed two 1m38.5s laps and beat the McLaren-Hondas into Q3.

His race was decent, but no more. He should have stayed ahead of Alonso, but his slow out-lap made the difference. This was not quite on par with those Brazil heroics, but Stroll's struggles suggest Massa performed well in a tricky car.

2 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren-Honda MCL32

Start: 13th

Finish: 12th

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

Rating: 6

Vandoorne faded after beating Alonso in Q1 and struggled after losing ground to Grosjean and Stroll on lap one in the race - complaining rear grip was so bad the car must be damaged, though he didn't suffer contact.

He finished more than a minute behind Alonso, but McLaren's data said Vandoorne's car lost downforce, so he gets some benefit of the doubt.

14 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda MCL32

Start: 11th

Finish: 9th

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

Rating: 10

McLaren-Honda had the fourth fastest car in practice, but slipped back in qualifying, where Alonso felt 11th was "deserved" as his pace flat-lined at 1m38.6s.

He was stunning in the race. He hung in Massa's slipstream through the first stint, and got ahead this time thanks to strong pace around the pitstops and decisive wheel-to-wheel battling through Turns 5, 6, 7 and 8.

10 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso-Renault STR12

Start: 17th

Finish: 16th

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

Rating: 6

It's difficult to accurately assess Gasly's qualifying effort, given Hartley's penalty and serious underperformance, but Gasly looked hooked up in practice so deserves some credit amid Toro Rosso's struggles.

A silly mistake at the penultimate corner on lap 16 undid Gasly's race. Instead of battling Vandoorne, he ended up behind Magnussen, Wehrlein and Hartley, and couldn't recover. He can do better.

28 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso-Renault STR12

Start: 20th

Finish: 15th

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

Rating: 5

Hartley was only a tenth and a half off Gasly in final practice, but admitted doing a poor job in qualifying, where the gap ballooned to over a second. Even allowing for set-up experiments, that was a weak effort.

He did a better job in the race, despite a scruffy first lap, but was stuck behind Wehrlein's Sauber throughout. Disappointing overall.

8 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari VF-17

Start: 16th

Finish: 11th

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

Rating: 9

A strong race from Grosjean, who was marginally quicker than Alonso and Massa ahead of him (before Alonso's late attempt at fastest lap), after forcing his way past Stroll's Williams. He couldn't have done much more.

The only blot was defeat to Magnussen and Stroll in qualifying. Grosjean needs to find a way to cope better with understeer, or dial it out.

20 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari VF-17

Start: 14th

Finish: 13th

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

Rating: 7

Magnussen was more proficient with the car's understeer than Grosjean and could not have qualified higher realistically.

He paid dearly for running wide at Turn 1 and spinning at Turn 3 on lap one of the race - Magnussen's characteristic gung-ho approach in pursuit of points undoing him this time. He recovered past slower cars, but lacked Grosjean's pace, so it was a mixed bag overall.

27 Nico Hulkenberg Renault RS17

Start: 7th

Finish: 6th

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

Rating: 10

Hulkenberg was superb in qualifying and reckoned his Q2 lap - six tenths clear of Sainz - to be one of his best of the season.

The race was excellent too. OK, Perez got past on lap one and Hulkenberg cut the track to get back ahead, but Hulkenberg's prodigious pace compensated for the penalty, and a slow pitstop.

55 Carlos Sainz Jr Renault RS17

Start: 12th

Finish: Retired

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

Rating: 7

Sainz was 0.161s away from making Q3, which was disappointing considering Hulkenberg's result, although a loss of power out of the last corner didn't help. Nevertheless, he still needs to find something to be on Hulkenberg's level.

He was solid in the race, looking likely to jump Alonso and Massa until that pitstop disaster, and was closing rapidly on Ocon's Force India too.

9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari C36

Start: 19th

Finish: 17th

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

Rating: 7

The 0.064s qualifying deficit to Wehrlein was insignificant other than costing Ericsson one grid slot, but Ericsson's race was disappointing.

He ran wide at Turn 1 after the start and was half a second per lap slower than Wehrlein through the first stint, which is far too big a deficit. He improved on ultra-softs, but couldn't find a way past Gasly.

94 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber-Ferrari C36

Start: 18th

Finish: 14th

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

Rating: 9

Wehrlein impressively outpaced Stroll and both Toro Rossos in final practice, but wasn't quite so strong in the cooler weather of qualifying.

He should be proud of his performance in the race - broadly matching Vandoorne and Magnussen for pace throughout and quicker than both Toro Rossos in the first stint. Had Sauber reacted to Magnussen's stop, Wehrlein might have beaten the Haas.