Brazilian Grand Prix driver ratings

6 NICO ROSBERG
Mercedes F1 W06

Start: 1st
Finish: 1st
Strategy: 3 stops (soft/medium/medium/medium)

Rating: 10

Rosberg remains coy of course, but whatever subtle adjustments he's made to improve in qualifying recently are working a treat.

Taking pole by less than one tenth helped Rosberg control Sunday © LAT

His fifth pole in a row (this time by just 0.078s) was brilliantly executed after a messy run in Q2, and provided the bedrock from which he could seal second place in the drivers' championship. He produced a flawless drive to frustrate Hamilton's victory ambitions for the second race in a row.

44 LEWIS HAMILTON
Mercedes F1 W06

Start: 2nd
Finish: 2nd
Strategy: 3 stops (soft/medium/medium/medium)

Rating: 8

Hamilton insists he's driving with the same intensity he had before he clinched his third world title, and the fact he came mighty close to denying Rosberg pole here suggests he hasn't let up yet.

He missed out by less than a tenth for the second year in a row, and that ultimately proved crucial in prolonging his wait for a first Brazilian GP victory. The champion tried hard to reverse positions, but Rosberg had him covered.

3 DANIEL RICCIARDO
Red Bull-Renault RB11

Start: 19th
Finish: 11th
Strategy: 3 stops (soft/medium/medium/soft)

Rating: 6

Ricciardo ran the updated Renault engine, but the expected 0.1-0.2s improvement didn't materialise, and therefore wasn't worth the 10-place grid penalty he served as a result, especially as his new unit was heavier than the old one. Hindsight is a wonderful thing...

Kvyat led the way for Red Bull with the older Renault, but lost out to Hulkenberg © LAT

His race was a battle against traffic while attempting to climb the order via alternative strategy. He did well to pass Perez near the end, but Maldonado's Lotus proved just out of reach.

26 DANIIL KVYAT
Red Bull-Renault RB11

Start: 6th
Finish: 7th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/medium/medium)

Rating: 7

Kvyat felt the team did a good job setting up the car in final practice on a hotter track, and was relieved to stick with Renault's old engine given the fact he was faster than his team-mate in qualifying.

He arguably should have beaten Hulkenberg's Force India for sixth, but got outmanoeuvred at the first round of pitstops and couldn't recover, or get close enough to attack on track. Still, it was a solid effort.

19 FELIPE MASSA
Williams-Mercedes FW37

Start: 8th
Finish: Excluded from 8th
Strategy: 3 stops (soft/medium/medium/medium)

Rating: 5

The home favourite usually goes well at Interlagos, but he struggled for grip all weekend, particularly in the twisty parts of sector two, where he gave away most of his 0.330s qualifying deficit to team-mate Bottas.

Massa never looked like repeating his 2014 podium at home © LAT

Massa described his pace in the race as a "disaster". He failed to make any impression on Hulkenberg or Kvyat ahead, and finished a lonely eighth before his exclusion for a tyre temperature irregularity.

77 VALTTERI BOTTAS
Williams-Mercedes FW37

Start: 7th
Finish: 5th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/medium/medium)

Rating: 8

Another excellent performance from Bottas to split the two Ferraris in qualifying, so he was frustrated to start further back on account of overtaking Nasr's Sauber under red flags in practice, a penalty he felt was undeserved.

He recovered expertly with a fast start to jump Kvyat and Hulkenberg, and challenge Raikkonen into the Senna S. There was no contact this time, but Williams lacked the pace to carry the fight forward so that was as good as it got.

5 SEBASTIAN VETTEL
Ferrari SF15-T

Start: 3rd
Finish: 3rd
Strategy: 3 stops (soft/medium/soft/medium)

Rating: 9

Ferrari looked a bit slow on Friday, but got the SF15-T working sufficiently well for Vettel to qualify third, with a 'comfortable' 0.281s gap to the Williams of Bottas behind.

Vettel led the way for Ferrari again, and joined the Mercedes drivers on the podium © LAT

Vettel showed a good turn of speed in the race to keep the Mercedes drivers honest, even though he could never get close enough to mix it with them properly. He was comfortably the better of the two Ferrari drivers again.

7 KIMI RAIKKONEN
Ferrari SF15-T

Start: 4th
Finish: 4th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/medium/medium)

Rating: 6

Another average qualifying display from Raikkonen, who was quicker than Vettel in Q1 but didn't improve much as the track gripped up. He admitted to errors at Mergulho and Juncao in Q3, which meant he qualified behind a Williams.

A grid penalty for Bottas took care of that obstacle, and Raikkonen enjoyed a clean, quiet and (in his own words) "boring" race to fourth, struggling for grip at times. It was a solid result, but an unspectacular performance.

14 FERNANDO ALONSO
McLaren-Honda MP4-30

Start: 20th
Finish: 15th
Strategy: 3 stops (soft/medium/soft/soft)

Rating: 6

Woeful unreliability meant Alonso's McLaren lunched its way through two engines in Brazil, denying him valuable track time in second practice and leading him to watch qualifying from a trackside deckchair after the car conked out again on his first flying lap.

Alonso, at least, did not need a deckchair on Sunday © XPB

The team fitted a new unit for the race, which Alonso felt had some glitches, but he was at least able to pass another car (Maldonado's Lotus) and finish the race. Small mercies...

22 JENSON BUTTON
McLaren-Honda MP4-30

Start: 16th
Finish: 14th
Strategy: 3 stops (soft/medium/soft/soft)

Rating: 7

Button suffered none of his team-mate's reliability woes, and actually came within 0.079s of making it through to Q2 in qualifying, which at least meant the MP4-30 wasn't cut adrift from the midfield on pure pace here.

He came within 0.563s of beating Felipe Nasr's Sauber in the race, but ultimately couldn't quite make his slower (but more aggressive) three-stop strategy work to achieve that aim. Button enjoyed himself at least, on another tough weekend.

11 SERGIO PEREZ
Force India-Mercedes VJM08

Start: 11th
Finish: 12th
Strategy: 3 stops (soft/medium/medium/soft)

Rating: 5

Perez reckoned qualifying a massive 0.662s slower than team-mate Hulkenberg represented "probably the worst" Saturday performance of his season, as he struggled with the set-up of his VJM08 and also admitted to errors that meant he failed to escape Q2.

Hulkenberg starred on Saturday but had to regroup after a slow start to the race © XPB

He found the race tough going too, losing positions to Verstappen's Toro Rosso, Grosjean's Lotus, and Ricciardo's Red Bull. This was a weekend to forget after his recent strong run.

27 NICO HULKENBERG
Force India-Mercedes VJM08

Start: 5th
Finish: 6th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/medium/medium)

Rating: 8

Hulkenberg produced a mega performance to beat both Red Bulls and Massa's Williams in qualifying. Force India reckons the slippery nature of the Interlagos track suits him, and Hulkenberg is also a big fan of Brazil as a country and culture. What's good for the head is good for the driver, it seems.

He wheelspun away two places off the grid, but repassed Kvyat with smart strategy and held the Red Bull at bay to secure Force India's best constructors' championship result yet.

33 MAX VERSTAPPEN
Toro Rosso-Renault STR10

Start: 10th
Finish: 9th
Strategy: 3 stops (soft/medium/medium/soft)

Rating: 10

Verstappen found the car difficult to drive on Friday, but struck a better balance between understeer and oversteer on Saturday and pulled out a strong lap at the crucial time to again make the top 10 in qualifying, where he's started to impress consistently.

Verstappen caught the eye again with some bold overtaking moves © XPB

He battled hard in the race, almost passing Massa and Hulkenberg in one move at Curva do Lago on lap one, and later pulling off impressive moves on Perez and Felipe Nasr. Excellent.

55 CARLOS SAINZ JR
Toro Rosso-Renault STR10

Start: 10th (pitlane)
Finish: Retired
Strategy: (medium/retired)

Rating: 6

Sainz couldn't get on top of his own rear grip issues as well as his team-mate for qualifying, where he was also hampered by a clutch problem and the loss of his steering wheel display, and he wound up lapping three tenths adrift of the sister car.

He suspected these electrical glitches were the beginnings of what caused his engine to stall in the pitlane, refuse to fire up, then seize as he attempted to join the race.

8 ROMAIN GROSJEAN
Lotus-Mercedes E23

Start: 14th
Finish: 8th
Strategy: 3 stops (soft/medium/medium/soft)

Rating: 9

Grosjean reckoned a top-10 grid position was possible without an error at the Senna S and then a spectacular spin at the Ferradura that meant he qualified a lowly 14th. He has been excellent in qualifying this season, so this was an unusual blip.

Grosjean made amends for a messy qualifying with a strong drive in the race © LAT

He made up for it with a combative drive in the race, in which the team felt he achieved the maximum possible. A superb performance by the Franco-Swiss, in trying circumstances.

13 PASTOR MALDONADO
Lotus-Mercedes E23

Start: 15th
Finish: 10th
Strategy: 2 stops (medium/soft/medium)

Rating: 7

Maldonado struggled with rear instability in his E23 throughout Friday and Saturday, but still should have made it through to Q2 at least. Without a mistake at the last corner on his best lap he would have done so.

Starting on the medium tyre was tough, and he was also penalised for clattering into Ericsson's Sauber while coming through the field. He inherited the final point when Massa was excluded. Not as impressive as Grosjean, but it was a solid drive.

28 WILL STEVENS
Marussia-Ferrari MR-03B

Start: 18th
Finish: 17th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/medium/medium)

Rating: 7

Stevens came out second best in a close fight with team-mate Rossi in qualifying, but decided to set his car up with a bias towards protecting his tyres in the race, following the struggles of last time out in Mexico.

Rossi eventually lost out to team-mate Stevens in his final 2015 start © LAT

That paid off handsomely in what he felt was one of his strongest races of the year, in which he was allowed past the sister Manor at mid-distance after proving he was the quicker of the two.

53 ALEXANDER ROSSI
Marussia-Ferrari MR-03B

Start: 17th
Finish: 18th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/medium/medium)

Rating: 6

Rossi's weekend appeared to spring to life once the team corrected a rear rideheight error on Friday that was making his car extremely unstable. He trailed Stevens after the first runs in Q1, but ultimately edged his team-mate by a tenth to gain the advantage of superior grid position.

That ultimately counted for little in the race, during which he battled "terminal" understeer and had to let his faster team-mate past. It was a flat ending to his five-race cameo.

9 MARCUS ERICSSON
Sauber-Ferrari C34

Start: 12th
Finish: 16th
Strategy: 3 stops (soft/medium/medium/soft)

Rating: 5

Ericsson struggled with inconsistent car balance at high speed in qualifying, and ended up nearly a quarter of a second adrift of his team-mate - though he ultimated starting ahead on account of Nasr's three-place penalty for blocking Massa's Williams.

Being turned around by Maldonado did not help Ericsson's troubled weekend © LAT

He made a "shocking" start to the race, losing positions off the grid and going off at the Curva do Lago on lap one. Contact with Maldonado derailed his recovery, and ensured he finished behind the McLaren-Hondas.

12 FELIPE NASR
Sauber-Ferrari C34

Start: 13th
Finish: 13th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/medium/medium)

Rating: 7

Nasr produced a fine display on Saturday to qualify 11th fastest, reckoning his team did a good job anticipating hotter track temperatures compared to Friday.

A grid penalty for impeding countryman Massa was unfortunate, but it's doubtful even with a better starting position that he could have fought for points, and in fact he ended up battling the two McLarens, a fight he won by a narrow margin. The Saturday promise ultimately went unrewarded in a frustrating race.