Russian Grand Prix driver ratings

6 NICO ROSBERG
Mercedes F1 W06

Start: 1st
Finish: Retired
Strategy: (super-soft/retired)

Rating: 10

What else could Rosberg have done, apart from actually win the race? He was a step ahead of his team-mate throughout qualifying in claiming only his third pole position of the season, and it was easily his most convincing.

Hamilton is now poised to wrap up the title © LAT

He nailed the start and defended position expertly on the long run into Turn 2. Major part of the job was done, but a sticking throttle undid all his hard work, and potentially undid his fading title hopes too.

44 LEWIS HAMILTON
Mercedes F1 W06

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

Rating: 8

Hamilton's seemingly inexorable march to a third world championship title continues. He was unusually erratic in qualifying, making some uncharacteristic errors and proving unable to find an answer to his team-mate's speed. The manner of that Saturday defeat is why he loses marks.

He couldn't generate enough momentum from the slipstream to pass Rosberg into Turn 2 after the start of the race, which turned into a cakewalk for Hamilton once the sister Mercedes retired.

3 DANIEL RICCIARDO
Red Bull-Renault RB11

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

Rating: 8

This was always likely to be a weak circuit for Red Bull-Renault, given the two long straights. Ricciardo was impressive in making Q2, but slipped behind Red Bull 'junior' Max Verstappen with a "weird" performance in Q3, so loses points for that.

Red Bull split its strategies © LAT

He lost ground to team-mate Kvyat at the start, but benefited from Red Bull's decision to split strategies, which thrust him into the top-six battle. He then fought valiantly until his car let him down.

26 DANIIL KVYAT
Red Bull-Renault RB11

Start: 11th
Finish: 5th
Strategy: 1 stop (super-soft/soft)

Rating: 7

Kvyat reckoned he "ran out of time" to prepare his tyres properly in Q2, but in truth there didn't seem to be too much wrong with the strategy, he just didn't seem to get it together quite as well as Ricciardo or Verstappen.

He made an excellent start to the race to jump both, but his conventional strategy put him in a fight with Felipes Massa and Nasr. The Russian beat the Sauber, but couldn't hold off Massa's Williams.

19 FELIPE MASSA
Williams-Mercedes FW37

Start: 15th
Finish: 4th
Strategy: 1 stop (soft/super-soft)

Rating: 7

The result was decent, but to an extent Massa had to rely on the misfortune of others to achieve it. There was no untoward reason for qualifying 15th, other than a mistake on his first lap and traffic on the next, by which time his rear tyres were finished. He loses most marks for that performance.

Bottas beat the Ferraris on Saturday then got taken out by one on Sunday © LAT

The Brazilian veteran's race was fine. He stayed out of trouble and was on for seventh until chaos erupted on the last lap.

77 VALTTERI BOTTAS
Williams-Mercedes FW37

Start: 3rd
Finish: 12th (retired)
Strategy: 1 stop (super-soft/soft)

Rating: 9

Bottas was outstanding in qualifying here last year, and strong again in 2015, outpacing the Ferraris on Saturday for the second race running.

The Finn lost out to Raikkonen early on, but made up the lost ground and generally drove a very fine race. He will perhaps rue the small mistake that prevented him from passing Perez earlier on the penultimate lap. That ultimately allowed Raikkonen to get as close as he did before it all went wrong...

5 SEBASTIAN VETTEL
Ferrari SF15-T

Start: 4th
Finish: 2nd
Strategy: 1 stop (super-soft/soft)

Rating: 8

There was "nothing fundamentally wrong" with his Ferrari in qualifying, so he probably should have beaten Bottas's Williams, and he loses marks for not doing so.

The Ferrari drivers went head to head © XPB

Vettel lost further ground to team-mate Raikkonen at the start of the race, but the German is unflappable at the moment. He pulled a hard but fair move to get back ahead and calmly worked his way up to second as the race wore on, the best result possible given the pace of Mercedes.

7 KIMI RAIKKONEN
Ferrari SF15-T

Start: 5th
Finish: 8th
Strategy: 1 stop (super-soft/soft)

Rating: 6

Raikkonen looked promisingly quick in Q2, but ended up well adrift of Vettel and Bottas after Q3. He felt the weather and circuit layout hindered his tyre preparation, but also made a mistake on his second Q3 run.

He started the race brilliantly to jump both Vettel and Bottas, but lost out to each at consecutive restarts, and was a bit ham-fisted in his attempts to recover later on. The penalty for biffing Bottas's Williams on the final lap was deserved.

14 FERNANDO ALONSO
McLaren-Honda MP4-30

Start: 19th
Finish: 11th
Strategy: 1 stop (soft/super-soft)

Rating: 6

Honda's engine guinea pig admitted he simply "wasn't fast enough" in qualifying, as he failed to join team-mate Button in Q2. He loses marks for that. Alonso had to do 40 laps on a set of super-softs, but managed to keep pace with Button without really making any inroads.

Button outpaced Alonso in Russia © XPB

A careless track limits penalty for cutting the apex at Turn 16 ultimately cost him a point, so he loses more marks for that. It was a below-par weekend.

22 JENSON BUTTON
McLaren-Honda MP4-30

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

Rating: 9

This was a strong showing from Button, particularly in qualifying, where he managed to beat a Lotus and a Williams, as well as his team-mate (by a chunky 0.404s).

He described himself as a "sitting duck" in the race, thanks to the ongoing ERS deployment weakness of the Honda engine, which allowed faster cars to blast past easily on the straights. Button felt McLaren at least did everything right strategically to snatch points as others faltered.

11 SERGIO PEREZ
Force India-Mercedes VJM08

Start: 7th
Finish: 3rd
Strategy: 1 stop (super-soft/soft)

Rating: 9

An outstanding effort from Perez, who has really found his feet with the VJM08 recently. His qualifying deficit to Hulkenberg was tiny, but it was there nevertheless, so that costs him a mark.

Perez pulled off another Force India podium © XPB

A stronger start put Perez immediately into the top six. Force India's gamble to pit during the second safety car paid off handsomely, but it required highly disciplined driving to achieve an unlikely result - with a little help from a last-lap collision between Bottas and Raikkonen.

27 NICO HULKENBERG
Force India-Mercedes VJM08

Start: 6th
Finish: Retired
Strategy: (super-soft/retired)

Rating: 4

Hulkenberg let a chance to score big points slip through his fingers. He was fractionally faster than Perez in qualifying (by just 0.032s), but lost crucial ground to his team-mate at the start, then tried an overly optimistic lunge around the outside at Turn 2.

The German spun trying to get the car stopped and turned without taking to the run-off, which put him out once Verstappen and Ericsson clattered into him. He should have known better really.

33 MAX VERSTAPPEN
Toro Rosso-Renault STR10

Start: 9th
Finish: 10th
Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/soft/super-soft)

Rating: 7

Verstappen did well to beat Ricciardo to the honour of fastest Renault-powered driver in qualifying, on his first visit to Sochi, but made a sluggish start to get jumped by Kvyat's Red Bull.

Sainz had a huge crash on Saturday © XPB

He was unlucky to pick up a puncture, and suspension and floor damage, from tagging Hulkenberg's Force India in the Turn 2 melee, but might have avoided it altogether with a faster getaway... He soldiered on, and inherited a point when Alonso was penalised for corner cutting.

55 CARLOS SAINZ JR
Toro Rosso-Renault STR10

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

Rating: 8

Sainz was steady away, admitting dizziness following the massive practice crash that forced him to skip qualifying. He followed Perez and Ricciardo by pitting under the second safety car, and was tracking the Red Bull until his brakes failed.

It was the left-sided ones that let go, after a sudden spike in temperatures, pitching him off the track twice and eventually out of the race. A disappointing end after a good drive in his rebuilt car.

8 ROMAIN GROSJEAN
Lotus-Mercedes E23

Start: 8th
Finish: Retired
Strategy: (super-soft/soft/retired)

Rating: 5

The Haas-bound Franco-Swiss performed superbly again in qualifying, setting the sixth fastest time in Q1 and ending up well clear of his team-mate once more.

Marshals clear up Grosjean's wreckage © XPB

Grosjean started his race well enough, maintaining position and avoiding the Hulkenberg incident, but a decision to pit immediately under the first safety car was compromised by a painfully slow front wing adjustment. That mattered little once he lost control at Turn 3 and the Lotus smashed into the barrier...

13 PASTOR MALDONADO
Lotus-Mercedes E23

Start: 14th
Finish: 7th
Strategy: 1 stop (soft/super-soft)

Rating: 6

Maldonado couldn't really explain a poor qualifying session, in which he spun in Q1 and finished up over a second slower than his team-mate in Q2.

He lost a place to Massa after getting delayed by Hulkenberg's spin at Turn 2 after the start, but also lost touch with the Williams later on, thanks to being passed by tyre-saver Perez then struggling for pace initially on the super-soft tyre. It was not a great drive but he stayed out of trouble to score.

28 WILL STEVENS
Marussia-Ferrari MR-03B

Start: 17th
Finish: 14th
Strategy: 2 stops (super-soft/soft/super-soft)

Rating: 6

Stevens is impressing Manor by consistently nailing the second run in qualifying. He did it again to overturn what the team felt was a slight deficit to Merhi on this track.

Merhi returned and had the upper hand on Stevens © LAT

He fell behind his team-mate on lap one, and had to make a second pitstop having flat-spotted tyres after locking brakes behind Merhi under the second safety car. That was the race over really, though his pace to the flag was also slightly disappointing.

98 ROBERTO MERHI
Marussia-Ferrari MR-03B

Start: 18th
Finish: 13th
Strategy: 1 stop (super-soft/soft)

Rating: 8

Returnee Merhi would have started behind Stevens regardless of the qualifying outcome, thanks to a 20-place grid penalty for taking a new engine, turbo and MGU-H for this race. He felt confident his free practice outing for Caterham here last year would help him on his return to the cockpit after two races out.

He flat-spotted tyres during his crucial second run in qualifying, but made up for it with a strong race in which he was consistently faster than Stevens.

9 MARCUS ERICSSON
Sauber-Ferrari C34

Start: 16th
Finish: Retired
Strategy: (Soft/retired)

Rating: 6

In his own words a "frustrating" weekend for Ericsson, who had to back off for Maldonado's spin on his first qualifying run then overheated his second set of tyres after his temperature readout froze during the build-up to his flying lap.

Ericsson couldn't avoid Hulkenberg © XPB

He started the race strongly to jump the Lotus and Massa's Williams, but was unsighted behind his team-mate as Hulkenberg spun, so ran into the Force India. There his race ended.

12 FELIPE NASR
Sauber-Ferrari C34

Start: 12th
Finish: 6th
Strategy: 1 stop (super-soft/soft)

Rating: 9

Nasr felt the C34 would be stronger on a similar asphalt to the Red Bull Ring, and made the most of an engineering reshuffle and improved set-up on his car to record his second-best result in F1.

He qualified strongly and raced hard with Massa's Williams, but waited too many laps to pit for softs, and lost touch with his main rival afterwards. Nevertheless, this was arguably Nasr's most impressive race since his superlative debut in Melbourne in March.