Austrian Grand Prix driver ratings

6 Nico Rosberg
Mercedes F1 W06

Start: 2nd
Finish: 1st
Strategy: 1 stop (super-soft/soft)

Rating: 9

Rosberg had the edge over team-mate Lewis Hamilton during Friday practice, and was faster in the early stages of qualifying too, but he blew his pole shot by going off at the final turn after running wide at the previous one.

Rosberg had the measure of Hamilton and was a deserving winner © LAT

He made up for it with a brilliant start and first lap to steal Hamilton's thunder in the race, and was faster than his rival throughout too. A convincing performance.

44 Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes F1 W06

Start: 1st
Finish: 2nd
Strategy: 1 stop (super-soft/soft)

Rating: 7

The world champion trailed Rosberg through Friday practice and was fortunate to take pole after spinning under braking for Turn 1 on his final Q3 lap. But thanks to Rosberg's own error it didn't matter.

Hamilton made a mess of the start and from there had his work cut out. He wasn't fast enough to challenge Rosberg, even without a five-second penalty for crossing the pit exit line. He admitted he was simply second best this weekend.

3 Daniel Ricciardo
Red Bull-Renault RB11

Start: 18th
Finish: 10th
Strategy: 1 stop (soft/super-soft)

Rating: 7

Ricciardo admitted his expectations in Canada were too high, having won his first race there the previous season, so frustration got the better of him given Red Bull-Renault's current competitive predicament.

Ricciardo salvaged a point from Red Bull with a strategy gamble © LAT

He failed to make the top-10 shootout in qualifying for the first time this season, after suffering brake problems. Grid penalty for an engine change meant he started 18th (with a 5s penalty at his first pitstop), but he drove well in the race to salvage a point.

26 Daniil Kvyat
Red Bull-Renault RB11

Start: 15th
Finish: 12th
Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/soft/super-soft)

Rating: 6

The Russian is finding better rhythm with the RB11 now it's not breaking down all the time, which was evident as he lapped close to Ricciardo in qualifying before the Aussie's brake problems struck.

Kvyat lost his eighth placed grid slot to an engine change penalty, and broke his front wing rear-ending Sergio Perez's Force India at the start of the race, which meant an early stop and some lost downforce. He battled on in hope of points, but the damage was too great to overcome.

19 Felipe Massa
Williams-Mercedes FW37

Start: 4th
Finish: 3rd
Strategy: 1 stop (super-soft/soft)

Rating: 8

Last year's polesitter had to be content with row two this year in updated FW37. He didn't string his sectors together, but wouldn't have qualified any higher had he done so.

No Saturday heroics this time, but a first 2015 podium for Massa © LAT

Massa looked on for a solid fourth in the race too, until Sebastian Vettel's pitstop problem handed him third. He kept calm in the face of a Vettel fightback late-on to score his first podium of the season.

77 Valtteri Bottas
Williams-Mercedes FW37

Start: 6th
Finish: 5th
Strategy: 1 stop (super-soft/soft)

Rating: 6

Bottas returned to the scene of his maiden F1 podium finish and felt another top three was possible after trying substantial aero updates to the FW37 on Friday, but he ended up only sixth on the grid with a disappointing performance in qualifying.

He lost ground on lap one of the race and had to fight back past Verstappen's Toro Rosso and Hulkenberg's Force India (twice) to salvage fifth while managing his brakes. Not his best race.

5 Sebastian Vettel
Ferrari SF15-T

Start: 3rd
Finish: 4th
Strategy: 1 stop (super-soft/soft)

Rating: 7

Vettel suffered a spate of gearbox problems in practice on Friday, which limited Ferrari's chances to gather valuable race-run data, but he bounced back to fill his customary best-of-the-rest role in qualifying behind the Mercedes drivers, who were surprised he wasn't closer than the final 0.355-second gap to pole.

Raikkonen's miserable weekend ended with a scary collision with Alonso © XPB

The lead Ferrari gradually lost touch during the first part of the race, but he would have finished a comfortable third without the 10s lost to a "stupid" (Maurizio Arrivabene's assessment) wheelnut problem at his pitstop.

7 Kimi Raikkonen
Ferrari SF15-T

Start: 14th
Finish: Retired
Strategy: (soft/retired)

Rating: 3

The Finn dismissed suggestions ahead of the race that he must take a pay cut to remain at Ferrari next season with his customary acerbic tone, and was on the offensive again after qualifying, blaming the team for failing to escape Q1 thanks to being on a slow lap on a rapidly improving track when the flag fell.

His race lasted just two corners, Raikkonen colliding frighteningly with Fernando Alonso's McLaren after losing control of his Ferrari on the back straight.

14 Fernando Alonso
McLaren-Honda MP4-30

Start: 19th
Finish: Retired
Strategy: (super-soft/retired)

Rating: 7

Disaster continues at McLaren-Honda. Alonso ran the latest major aero update, including new short nose, front wing and floor, but he started the weekend with a fifth engine, turbo and MGU-H, which meant a 20-place grid penalty. This became 25 when his gearbox broke in practice on Saturday.

Alonso didn't spent much time driving himself in Austria last weekend © XPB

After qualifying 15th he had to serve a drive-through penalty early in the race, but never made it that far after getting wiped out by Raikkonen's Ferrari on the first lap.

22 Jenson Button
McLaren-Honda MP4-30

Start: 20th
Finish: Retired
Strategy: (super-soft/soft/retired)

Rating: 7

The McLaren-Honda was slower than all bar the Manor/Marussias at this track and Button joined his team-mate at the back of the grid thanks to another penalty for an engine change, following a fourth spark plug failure of the season on Friday.

Button chose to switch tyres under the safety car, before serving his 10s stop/go penalty (for 22 unserved grid penalty places) at the restart, but he had to stop shortly thereafter when an intake system sensor failed.

11 Sergio Perez
Force India-Mercedes VJM08

Start: 13th
Finish: 9th
Strategy: 1 stop (soft/super-soft)

Rating: 7

Force India has been developing the VJM08 under the skin since Monaco and both cars got a fresh Mercedes engine for this race. Perez was great here last year, rising from 15th on the grid to sixth, with fastest lap, and was required to perform a similar miracle after his crucial lap in Q1 was compromised following Alonso's McLaren.

Le Mans winner Hulkenberg gave Bottas a tough afternoon in the race © LAT

He survived a hit from Kvyat's Red Bull on lap one to salvage points, and the team felt he scored the best result possible in the circumstances.

27 Nico Hulkenberg
Force India-Mercedes VJM08

Start: 5th
Finish: 6th
Strategy: 1 stop (super-soft/soft)

Rating: 9

Hulkenberg said it took him some time to readjust to driving in Formula 1 again, after winning the Le Mans 24 Hours for Porsche the previous weekend, but he produced his best qualifying lap of the season to split the Williams drivers and start fifth on the grid.

He couldn't keep the recovering Bottas behind in the race, but the team knows it is not quick enough to fight its fellow Mercedes customer right now, so a top six finish was a superb result.

33 Max Verstappen
Toro Rosso-Renault STR10

Start: 7th
Finish: 8th
Strategy: 1 stop (super-soft/soft)

Rating: 7

The teenager remains frustrated by Renault's power deficit, but he gave himself a chance of a good result here by utilising a high downforce set-up throughout the weekend to qualify seventh.

Verstappen scrapped to keep his Toro Rosso in the points on Sunday © LAT

He jumped Bottas on the first lap and held the Williams off as long as he could, then spent the last part of the race fighting off Pastor Maldonado's Lotus. His defence at Turn 4 and on the start/finish straight was questionable, but consecutive mistakes at Turns 9 and 1 rendered that moot. A good performance nevertheless.

55 Carlos Sainz Jr
Toro Rosso-Renault STR10

Start: 12th
Finish: Retired
Strategy: (super-soft/soft/retired)

Rating: 7

Toro Rosso brought several updates for the STR10 to the Red Bull Ring, but Sainz wasn't particularly fast using a low-downforce set-up (part of a plan to split strategies between the drivers) through free practice, then felt he didn't have enough time to adapt when the team (rightly) switched him to high-downforce for qualifying.

He produced an excellent first lap to rise to ninth, but points chances went begging to a slow pitstop, before a loss of electrical power forced him out.

8 Romain Grosjean
Lotus-Mercedes E23

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

Rating: 6

Grosjean reckons the Lotus struggles to work the super-soft tyres well on heavy fuel, which is why the E23 has been quicker in qualifying than in race trim recently.

Maldonado came away with points after a feisty drive in the race © XPB

He felt a top-five grid slot was on in qualifying, but for the suspected hydraulic leak that prevented him setting a time in Q3. He lost out in early battle with Sainz and Perez in the race, but was still in the hunt for points when a gearbox problem put paid to his afternoon.

13 Pastor Maldonado
Lotus-Mercedes E23

Start: 10th
Finish: 7th
Strategy: 1 stop (soft/super-soft)

Rating: 6

Maldonado revelled in the handling of the E23 right from the off and reckoned he would have made the top 10 "easily" in qualifying, but for a mistake at the penultimate corner on his final flier that he estimated cost him seven tenths.

He stalled briefly at the start of the race, but recovered to salvage seventh after a close fight with Verstappen at the end. Maldonado showed he can keep cool in wheel-to-wheel combat in the face of aggressive defence.

28 Will Stevens
Marussia-Ferrari MR-04

Start: 17th
Finish: Retired
Strategy: (super-soft/retired)

Rating: 5

Stevens was confident of a strong showing at a circuit he knows from his Formula Renault 3.5 days, but he was again put in the shade by his improving team-mate.

Stevens was parked up shortly after the start of the race thanks to debris © XPB

He was outqualified by a massive 1.297s margin, but estimated he lost 1.1s to battling with Ricciardo and Massa for track position in Q1, where he also went off and damaged his car's floor. His race lasted just one lap before debris from Kvyat's wing punctured a radiator.

98 Roberto Merhi
Marussia-Ferrari MR-04

Start: 16th
Finish: 14th
Strategy: 1 stop (super-soft/soft)

Rating: 7

Merhi is no longer overdriving in the early stages of the weekend, and is back to using the theoretically better front wing spec. He felt he was almost pushed into the wall by Raikkonen's Ferrari after a good start to the race, and was following closely when the Finn and Alonso speared into the wall exiting Turn 2.

He was 13th after the first lap, which was as good as it got, though team was encouraged by his pace relative to the pack during the first stint.

9 Marcus Ericsson
Sauber-Ferrari C34

Start: 11th
Finish: 13th
Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/soft/super-soft)

Rating: 5

After a decent showing in Canada last time out, Ericsson trailed team-mate Felipe Nasr at this track and qualified nearly four tenths slower than the Brazilian. Still, Kvyat's grid penalty bumped him up a place before the start of the race, but unfortunately he jumped it and incurred a drive-through penalty.

Nasr struggled with brakes for much of the race, costing him points © LAT

He also damaged the car running over debris early on, before an ECU problem briefly switched off the car (twice!) on track. In his own words "a shocker".

12 Felipe Nasr
Sauber-Ferrari C34

Start: 8th
Finish: 11th
Strategy: 1 stop (super-soft/soft)

Rating: 7

The Brazilian hasn't been happy with his feeling for the brakes since switching from Brembo to Carbon Industrie material for Canada, but set-up changes to get him the right feeling from the CI brakes transformed his form here.

Nasr felt he had done "everything right from the first session", and was confident of a points finish, but his brakes started overheating from the early stages of the race, and his chances of a good result faded with them.