Monaco Grand Prix driver ratings

6 NICO ROSBERG
Mercedes F1 W06

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

Rating: 7

Arrived at this race off the back of a dominant performance in Spain, and as winner of the previous two Monaco Grands Prix, but team-mate Lewis Hamilton raised the bar in qualifying and Rosberg couldn't respond in kind.

Hamilton dominated proceedings until Mercedes' blunder © LAT

Having "lost the rhythm" in Q2 and Q3 he ended up qualifying well adrift of Hamilton. He was comfortably second best in the race too, until victory landed in his lap.

44 LEWIS HAMILTON
Mercedes F1 W06

Start: 1st
Finish: 3rd
Strategy: 2 stops (supersoft/soft/supersoft)

Rating: 9

The champion secured his first Monaco pole position with the sort of majestic display that is becoming a regular feature of GP Saturdays now. From there the race was his to lose.

Unfortunately, lose it he did, thanks to an inexplicable decision to pit under the safety car when his lead was too small to guarantee its retention. "You rely on the team," Hamilton said, but could or should he have overruled his employer on this occasion?

3 DANIEL RICCIARDO
Red Bull-Renault RB11

Start: 4th
Finish: 5th
Strategy: 2 stops (supersoft/soft/supersoft)

Rating: 8

Ricciardo would have qualified third in Monaco for the second year in a row but for a miscommunication over engine settings that cost him the crucial 0.2s to Vettel's Ferrari.

Kvyat jumped Ricciardo at the start and went on to record his best result © XPB

He made a good start but got squeezed out at Sainte Devote and mugged by Kvyat on the brakes. He lost out to Raikkonen too at his first stop, but reversed positions by pitting for fresh rubber under the safety car and barging past the Ferrari at Mirabeau after the restart.

26 DANIIL KVYAT
Red Bull-Renault RB11

Start: 5th
Finish: 4th
Strategy: 1 stop (supersoft/soft)

Rating: 8

Kvyat hasn't enjoyed a smooth start to his time at Red Bull, but is showing flashes of enormous potential and this was comfortably his best weekend since graduating from Toro Rosso.

He put together a decent qualifying session to place fifth, though Ricciardo's engine 'problem' flattered the Russian in the final reckoning. Grabbed his chance to jump Ricciardo after the start and thoroughly deserved the best finish yet of his fledgling grand prix career.

19 FELIPE MASSA
Williams-Mercedes FW37

Start: 12th
Finish: 15th
Strategy: 3 stops (supersoft/soft/supersoft/supersoft)

Rating: 7

The Williams looked awful to drive around Monaco, quicker than only the Sauber and Manor/Marussia and with too much speed-sapping understeer in slow corners to be competitive.

Williams endured a miserable weekend, including Massa's first-lap contact © XPB

Massa did a good job of driving around the weak front end and hustled the FW37 as best he could. He started 12th on account of penalties for Grosjean and Sainz, but contact with Hulkenberg after the start cost him a lap and he couldn't recover.

77 VALTTERI BOTTAS
Williams-Mercedes FW37

Start: 16th
Finish: 14th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/supersoft/supersoft)

Rating: 5

Struggled badly with the understeer that plagued the Williams once the supersoft (or should that be supermedium?) tyres were fitted for final practice and qualifying. Finding traffic in Q1 didn't help and the result was his worst dry qualifying ranking since the 2013 Italian GP.

He started on the harder tyre and tried a 64-lap stint on the supersoft to score some points, but pitted again after 43 once Verstappen came by during lappery. Game over.

5 SEBASTIAN VETTEL
Ferrari SF15-T

Start: 3rd
Finish: 2nd
Strategy: 1 stop (supersoft/soft)

Rating: 8

Vettel reckoned Ferrari underperformed at Barcelona, and the Scuderia looked more competitive in Monte Carlo initially as its new driver topped final practice, before Mercedes corrected its tyre pressures, turned up the wick and reasserted itself in qualifying.

Being outmuscled by Ricciardo capped Raikkonen's lacklustre weekend © XPB

The SF15-T was stronger in the hotter conditions of race day, though, and Vettel kept the pressure on Rosberg brilliantly, which just allowed him to steal second place when Mercedes botched Hamilton's strategy near the end.

7 KIMI RAIKKONEN
Ferrari SF15-T

Start: 6th
Finish: 6th
Strategy: 1 stop (supersoft/soft)

Rating: 5

Raikkonen is generally driving well in races, but knew turning around his unacceptably poor qualifying form in Monaco (where overtaking is almost impossible) would be crucial. Unfortunately, he suffered another "disaster" on Saturday and wound up 0.582s behind Vettel.

He split the Red Bulls with a fast in-lap and pitstop in the race, but lost out again when Ricciardo lunged down the inside at Mirabeau after the restart. Raikkonen needs to raise his game.

14 FERNANDO ALONSO
McLaren-Honda MP4-30

Start: 13th
Finish: Retired
Strategy: (soft/supersoft/retired)

Rating: 6

McLaren reckoned the lack of straights in Monaco would allow the strengths of its chassis to shine and get both drivers into Q3. Unfortunately, Alonso suffered an electrical problem before he could complete a flying lap in Q2, so wound up only 15th fastest.

Button claimed McLaren's first points of 2015, while Alonso was in the wars © LAT

He was penalised for hitting Hulkenberg at Mirabeau on lap one of the race, but nevertheless looked on for a points finish until the car let him down again.

22 JENSON BUTTON
McLaren-Honda MP4-30

Start: 10th
Finish: 8th
Strategy: 2 stops (supersoft/soft/supersoft)

Rating: 7

Button felt he would have made it into Q3 "easily" but for the need to slow for yellow flags on his fastest lap in Q2, which meant he missed the cut by less than a tenth.

He gained two grid spots thanks to penalties for Sainz and Grosjean, and two places in the race thanks to problems for Maldonado and Verstappen. The result was McLaren-Honda's first points of the season after a solid drive.

11 SERGIO PEREZ
Force India-Mercedes VJM08

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

Rating: 10

Perez feels he is driving at the best level of his career and felt confident in the car from the first session on Thursday morning. He used the VJM08's strong mechanical set-up to good effect to squeak into Q3 and then outqualify both Toro Rossos and Maldonado's Lotus with just one run in the top-10 shootout.

Monaco was relatively kind to the VJM08 and Perez's performance was faultless © XPB

He didn't put a foot wrong in the race either. Perez couldn't have done any more with the car at his disposal.

27 NICO HULKENBERG
Force India-Mercedes VJM08

Start: 11th
Finish: 11th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/supersoft/soft)

Rating: 6

The circuit layout helped mask the high-speed aerodynamic deficiencies of the VJM08 and meant both drivers were contenders for the top 10 here. But Hulkenberg glanced the barriers at Mirabeau in Q1, and then made an error on his best lap in Q2, so wound up only 13th fastest.

Contact with Alonso on lap one undid him in the race, so he did well to recover back to 11th in the circumstances.

33 MAX VERSTAPPEN
Toro Rosso-Renault STR10

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

Rating: 6

Verstappen lapped second fastest in first practice, despite being the only driver in the field without prior knowledge of the track, and was disappointed to qualify only 10th fastest, as STR struggled to get the supersoft tyre working.

Verstappen starred on Thursday, but blotted his copybook on Sunday © XPB

He fought his way brilliantly back towards the top 10 after a long delay at his first pitstop, but insisted he wasn't trying to pass Grosjean when he rear-ended the Lotus and crashed heavily at Sainte Devote.

55 CARLOS SAINZ JR
Toro Rosso-Renault STR10

Start: Pits
Finish: 10th
Strategy: 1 stop (supersoft/soft)

Rating: 7

Verstappen grabbed the early headlines here, but Sainz ultimately proved fractionally stronger again when it counted on Saturday. Unfortunately, missing the FIA weighbridge in Q1 undid his good work in qualifying eighth overall and meant he was forced to start from the pitlane.

To score a point from there seemed impossible, but Sainz stayed out of trouble as others faltered to make it happen. His mammoth 65-lap stint on soft tyres was impressive.

8 ROMAIN GROSJEAN
Lotus-Mercedes E23

Start: 15th
Finish: 12th
Strategy: 1 stop (supersoft/soft)

Rating: 6

Grosjean looked to have a small edge over team-mate Maldonado on the supersoft tyre, but blew his chances of making Q3 with a big lock-up at the second part of the Swimming Pool in Q2, while a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change made his life harder still.

Maldonado outpaced Grosjean before misfortune intervened again © LAT

He was hanging on grimly for the final point in the race (thanks to cars in front hitting trouble) until Verstappen spoiled the party.

13 PASTOR MALDONADO
Lotus-Mercedes E23

Start: 8th
Finish: Retired
Strategy: (supersoft/retired)

Rating: 7

Maldonado generally goes well around Monaco, as his spectacular style and no-fear approach help him get up to speed quickly around a circuit where confidence is king. He was one of four drivers to not improve after making Q3, so arguably should have beaten Perez's Force India to seventh on the grid.

After just five laps of the race, he was forced to retire with a suspected hydraulic leak. He just cannot catch a break at the moment.

28 WILL STEVENS
Marussia-Ferrari MR-04

Start: 18th
Finish: 17th
Strategy: 1 stop (soft/supersoft)

Rating: 6

Stevens has enjoyed a substantial advantage over his team-mate so far this season, but was not so far ahead at this circuit. He still managed to comfortably outqualify Merhi (by 0.249s) despite losing one flying lap on his first Q1 run to a telemetry false alarm.

Merhi regrouped from a practice shunt to lead Stevens home © LAT

In the race, he picked up front wing damage from tagging Ericsson's Sauber on the first lap and lost touch with Merhi after being passed at the chicane on lap 25.

98 ROBERTO MERHI
Marussia-Ferrari MR-04

Start: 19th
Finish: 16th
Strategy: 1 stop (soft/supersoft)

Rating: 6

Merhi felt his deficit to Stevens would be reduced by the unique Monaco track layout, and he looked faster initially, but then crashed in practice two under braking for the chicane. This set him back until he discarded the replacement front wing after third practice and began to feel more comfortable.

He qualified closer to Stevens than he's managed all season and capitalised on his team-mate's wing damage to move clear in the race. He's getting better.

9 MARCUS ERICSSON
Sauber-Ferrari C34

Start: 17th
Finish: 13th
Strategy: 3 stops (supersoft/soft/supersoft/supersoft)

Rating: 5

Everyone knows the C34 lacks downforce, but it also looked poor changing direction through Monte Carlo's tight twists. Ericsson trailed team-mate Nasr again in qualifying (by four tenths of a second), which is starting to become par for the course.

Nasr dragged his unfriendly Sauber to more points © LAT

He tracked Bottas's Williams early in the race, but questionable strategy dropped Ericsson behind Sainz and Hulkenberg and meant no real chance of nicking a point at the end.

12 FELIPE NASR
Sauber-Ferrari C34

Start: 14th
Finish: 9th
Strategy: 2 stops (supersoft/soft/supersoft)

Rating: 8

Nasr looks frustrated by the limitations of the C34, but he's driving with them pretty well and he effortlessly outqualified his team-mate once again - ending up ahead of Bottas's recalcitrant Williams too.

Sweat-soaked overalls attested to how physically draining he found the race, but a strong drive was rewarded with opportunistic points as quicker rivals encountered problems. A Sauber had no business finishing ninth here.