We rate the drivers after India

1. Sebastian Vettel	10/10
Started: 1st Finished: 1st Strategy: 2 stops (option-option-prime) Always looked destined to take his 13th pole position of the season and ended up 0.3s clear of Lewis Hamilton in qualifying. It was typical Vettel: a smooth run during qualifying and didn't miss a beat throughout Friday and Saturday. Come the race, it was also typical Vettel. He made a good start to hold the lead into the first corner and was 1.303s clear of Jenson Button at the end of the first lap. From there, you always felt that he had everything under control. He was able to make his tyres last as long as Button, waiting until a lap after the McLaren man had headed in before pitting himself each time. This showed that Vettel and Red Bull had the race under control from start to finish as the German kept Button at arm's length throughout. Verdict: Took pole position, led from start to finish and set fastest lap. The definition of perfection.
2. Mark Webber	6/10
Started: 2nd Finished: 4th Strategy: 2 stops (option-prime-prime) If Vettel's performance was typical of the German's 2011 campaign, then so too was Mark Webber's typical of his own. In qualifying, he ended up 0.3s off his team-mate, missing out on second place by a matter of hundredths to Hamilton. Fortunately for Webber, this was illusory, as the 2008 world champion's grid penalty bumped the Australian up to a place on the front row. Heading into the race, talk was of whether Vettel would move aside for Webber to aid the team's quest for second in the world championship. Webber said he wouldn't accept such gifts, and the reality is that he would have loved to have been in a position to refuse, as despite holding second at the start, he was passed by Button into Turn 4 on the opening lap. He held third during the first two stints, but had to stop two laps earlier than Fernando Alonso to switch to prime rubber, which allowed the Spaniard to jump him for third. Verdict: "It's pretty much the general story of this year; I just don't have the pace at the end of the stints, so I run out of tyres and then lose out on strategy," said Webber after the race. A perfect summary.
3. Lewis Hamilton	7/10
Started: 5th Finished: 7th Strategy: 3 stops (option-option-option-prime) After a superb second place in Korea, Hamilton's weekend got off to the perfect start in India as he topped Friday morning free practice. Unfortunately, along with Sergio Perez, he had improved his time while the yellow flags were showing. Thanks to the compelling evidence of him having the DRS activated as he set a best sector time, Hamilton, like Perez, was hit with a three-place grid penalty. In qualifying, Hamilton did a good job to mitigate the damage, taking second place and dropping to fifth when the penalty was applied. He was banking on a good start to get into the podium mix, but ended up slipping behind Felipe Massa, where he stayed throughout the first stint and the early laps of the second. Inevitably, this left him behind Massa and catching him and on lap 24 he pulled alongside the Brazilian into Turn 5. Aware that Massa was going to turn in, he tried to back out, but it was too late and contact was made. After pitting for a new nose, he rejoined in ninth and thanks to damage to his car he didn't have the pace to make a full recovery, so had to settle for seventh behind the Mercedes drivers. Verdict: Yellow-flag penalty was his own fault, qualifying was excellent, start was mediocre, collision with Massa was avoidable but ultimately not of his making and recovery potential was limited. A mixed bag of a weekend.
4. Jenson Button	9/10
Started: 4th Finished: 2nd Strategy: 2 stops (option-option-prime) Made hard work of qualifying, having to use a set of options to make it through to Q2, unlike any of the other drivers from the top three teams. Was unlucky with the timing of the Massa-induced yellow flag, but had he delivered on his first Q1 run, he could have had two attempts in Q3 and would have been quicker. Despite an underwhelming Saturday, Button was bang on it in the race, passing Webber into Turn 4 on the first lap (without DRS assistance) and then proving to be the only driver able to keep Vettel on his toes in the race. He attacked the Red Bull driver when he could around the pitstops, but ultimately the McLaren didn't have the speed to make good on the flirtations that he made with launching a challenge for victory. Verdict: Could have done a better job in qualifying, but was, as always, superb in the race and can only be marked down a point for what happened on Saturday.
5. Fernando Alonso	10/10
Started: 3rd Finished: 3rd Strategy: 2 stops (option-option-prime) Wasn't particularly confident of getting onto the front two rows in qualifying, but ended up fourth fastest in qualifying thanks to a strong lap of 1m24.519s, which was worth third on the grid after Hamilton's penalty. From there, he knew that he had a decent chance of a podium, which perhaps explained why his early laps in the race were a little more convincing than they were in Japan and Korea. Ran fourth on the first lap, but lost out at the first round of pitstops when he was passed by Michael Schumacher while on his outlap. This let Webber edge away, but Alonso's better tyre management allowed him to make his final stop two laps later than the Australian. This meant he re-emerged from the pits in third place and had once again beaten a quicker car in a straight fight. Verdict: There was no sign of Alonso losing interest in India and he was on his game throughout to beat Webber's quicker Red Bull.
6. Felipe Massa	4/10
Started: 6th Retired: Suspension failure Strategy: 2 stops before retirement (option-option-prime) As has been the fashion in recent races, showed flashes of Alonso-like speed during practice, but things went wrong during qualifying when he clouted a high 'sausage' kerb behind the main section of kerbing, which broke his suspension and put him into the wall. Ultimately, the mistake probably didn't cost him a great deal, although it did mean that he had to start the race with a wing that was visibly flexing. Many questioned whether it would last the distance. Climbed to fifth at the start ahead of Hamilton and kept the McLaren man behind during the first stint, stopping one lap after him but retaining his advantage. This created the circumstances for their lap 24 collision on the run into Turn 5. With Hamilton up the inside, Massa decided to turn in, perhaps in the knowledge that he couldn't simply lie down and let the McLaren driver force his way past. The resulting collision earned Massa a drive-through penalty and he retired shortly after with a suspension failure after again hitting an inside kerb - although there was the possibility that the collision with Hamilton had weakened his suspension. Verdict: Looked to have good fundamental speed, but has to take responsibility for Q3 mistake. Drove well in the race until he turned in on Hamilton, and his race ended when he appeared to make the same kerb mistake a second time.
7. Michael Schumacher	8/10
Started: 11th Finished: 5th Strategy: 2 stops (option-option-prime) Seemed to lack the single-lap pace of Nico Rosberg during practice, but would have made it through to Q3 had he not picked up a vibration on his final set of tyres in the second segment of qualifying. Another 0.02s would have been enough to put him through, although by his own admission that problem didn't explain the 0.8s gap to Rosberg during Q2. Come the race, there were no such concerns. He played it cool at the start and saved up his KERS for the long back straight, using the extra power to perfection and completing the first lap in eighth place, right behind his team-mate. As has been the pattern recently, Mercedes had the pace to keep the rest of the field at bay, so this became an intra-team battle. Schumacher kept Rosberg in his sights until the second pitstops, where he was able to run five laps longer and jump ahead of him. This closed the gap between the pair to just five points in the standings. Verdict: Appeared to be all at sea in qualifying, even taking into account his problems. But was as quick as Rosberg in the race and managed his tyres better. A superb Sunday.
8. Nico Rosberg	8/10
Started: 7th Finished: 6th Strategy: 2 stops (option-option-prime) With Mercedes thoroughly re-established as the fourth-best team, Rosberg achieved what was likely the best possible result for the machinery with seventh in qualifying. "Unfortunately, I got caught out by the yellow flag, otherwise I could have done better," he said after Saturday's action, but as Massa would likely have improved his time but for causing said caution, it's hard to see how the German could have nabbed sixth. But come the race, he was able to do just that, albeit largely thanks to the problems endured by Massa and Hamilton. He held eighth in the early stages, but as the Mercedes didn't have the speed to battle with the big three teams, he was more concerned about his fast-starting team-mate. While he was able to keep Schumacher at bay during the first two stints, he couldn't make his second set of options last as long as the seven-time world champion's and he headed into the pits five laps earlier. It was this that cost him the position, as Schumacher emerged from his final stop ahead and kept Rosberg just out of DRS range to the finish. Verdict: As is often the case, Rosberg excelled in qualifying, despite the yellow flag, but was just shaded by his team-mate in the race. Tyre use made all the difference, but sixth was still a good result.
9. Bruno Senna	7/10
Started: 14th Finished: 12th Strategy: 2 stops (option-option-prime) Achieved a good level of confidence in the car during practice, but the changing track conditions knocked him back during qualifying as grip levels changed. Showed decent pace during practice and was confident of making Q3, but couldn't produce the lap times with the balance of the car not right and he ended up 0.3s shy of Vitaly Petrov. Things went much better at the start of the race as he climbed to 10th and was able to keep Jaime Alguersuari's Toro Rosso at bay in the early stages. Until, that is, he lost KERS and was powerless to keep him behind him. Lapped quickly, particularly during the second half of the race, considering his KERS disadvantage, but dropped out of the points when he stopped after 56 laps for prime rubber. This relegated him to 12th. Verdict: On the edges of the points, small margins matter and the 0.3s per lap his KERS failure cost him for 50 laps hurt. As a guide, that equates to 15s, which was about what he needed to get into the top 10.
10. Vitaly Petrov	4/10
Started: 16th Finished: 11th Strategy: 2 stops (prime-option-option) The Russian was desperately unfortunate to miss out on Q3, setting an identical time to Alguersuari but ending up classified 11th because he set the time second. Despite that, it was a strong qualifying performance despite several small mistakes on his lap that cost him a top-10 slot and came after the morale boost of topping Q1 thanks to the advantage of a number of the frontrunners not running option rubber. He already had a five-place grid penalty hanging over his head, which left him on the eighth row. Things went worse in the race, where he had two off-track moments and lost time at a pitstop grappling with the clutch. When you consider that he finished 11th, 3.5s off ninth place, the cost of such little errors becomes clear. Verdict: Had the speed to pocket points, but made too many errors, a reminder of the Petrov of old. In between, he was quick, but lack of consistency cost him big-time.
11. Rubens Barrichello	3/10
Started: 15th Finished: 15th Strategy: 2 stops (option-prime-prime) Didn't find the balance of the car to his liking on his final set of options in Q2 and ended up 0.7s off his team-mate. Fortunately, this translated into just two grid positions as Williams was towards the back of the midfield pack. Despite a disappointing performance on paper, Barrichello wasn't too downbeat, even though he knew it would be hard work to drag the Williams into contention for points. At the first corner, while battling with Kamui Kobayashi, he clipped the back of team-mate Pastor Maldonado and lost his front wing. That dropped him to the back and he recovered as well as could be expected, ending up 15s behind Heikki Kovalainen. Verdict: Didn't impress in qualifying and his small mistake at the start was costly. Ultimately, has to carry the can for a disappointing result.
12. Pastor Maldonado	8/10
Started: 13th Retired: Gearbox Strategy: 2 stops before retirement (prime-prime-prime) Managed to complete 46 laps during Friday despite suffering engine problems during both practice sessions, fitting in a spin along the way as he acclimatised to the track. But any time that he did lose didn't hold him back as he outqualified his team-mate by 0.7s. It certainly impressed chief operations engineer Mark Gillan. "Pastor did a very good job after two engine problems yesterday," he said. "He maximised the current performance of the car." The same could probably be said for the Venezuelan in the race, who survived being hit in the rear by Barrichello at the first corner to run in 13th. He stayed there until lap 13, when he ground to a halt with a gearbox problem, and reckoned that points would have been possible had mechanical gremlins not intervened. Verdict: Qualifying was excellent and so was his race until it was cut short by the gearbox problem. Might not quite have made the points, but could have been thereabouts.
14. Adrian Sutil	9/10
Started: 8th Finished: 9th Strategy: 2 stops (option-option-prime) Led the way for the Indian-owned team during qualifying, unquestionably getting the best out of the machinery to take eighth on the grid. However, with no fresh options left, he decided not to run in Q3, save for taking to the track for out and in laps to secure his position. Climbed to ninth at the start, but didn't have the pace to keep the Toro Rossos behind. Fortunately, Sebastien Buemi's retirement allowed him to regain a place and when Senna pitted for primes late on, he moved up to the same position that he occupied on the first lap. Had to stay on it in the closing stages to keep Perez at bay, ending the race with 2.5s in hand. Verdict: Did a great job in qualifying and couldn't be faulted for his race performance in a position where three lost seconds would have left him 11th.
15. Paul di Resta	6/10
Started: 12th Finished: 13th Strategy: 3 stops (prime-option-option-option) Was happy with progress during practice, but admitted that "as the track has gripped up we have not been able to balance the car and have struggled with understeer in the high-speed corners." Ended up 0.35s and five places behind team-mate Sutil in qualifying, but remained upbeat about climbing into the points on Sunday afternoon. In the fight for sixth place in the constructors' championship, Force India opted to split its strategy. Di Resta started on the primes and pitted at the end of the second lap, meaning that he could run to the finish on options. The hoped-for safety car didn't materialise and he spent the rest of the afternoon playing catch up. He ended up making three stops, which dropped him out of touch with Perez and Petrov, who adopted a similar strategy, leaving him around 16s from the points at the finish. Verdict: Fundamentally, the pace was there in the race, but struggles in qualifying set-up and in strategy put him on the back foot from the off.
16. Kamui Kobayashi	4/10
Started: 17th Retired: Accident damage Strategy: 0 stops before retirement (prime) The Japanese can always be relied upon to take a car by the scruff of the neck, but had to do so to extremes to try to drag lap time out of the Sauber in qualifying trim. Reckoned that he would have made it through to Q2 but for hitting traffic when Massa emerged from the pits in front of him, but frankly would have struggled even to get in among the Williams-Cosworths. Things went even worse in the race as he was hit from behind at the first corner. The impact damaged his radiator and broke an oil line, which caught fire and forced him to pull out. Verdict: Can only be judged on qualifying, in which he was not as strong as Perez, as he had no opportunity to make amends in the race.
17. Sergio Perez	9/10
Started: 20th Finished: 10th Strategy: 2 stops (prime-option-option) With Sauber's qualifying form hardly impressive, the last thing Perez needed to do was pick up a three-place grid penalty for disregarding a yellow flag during Friday morning practice. With Sauber proving to be at the back of the midfield pack during practice, this meant it was inevitable he would start down the grid among the backmarkers. Driving a car lacking in grip in qualifying trim - thanks to not being able to generate enough tyre heat quickly enough - making it through Q1 was probably the maximum achievable, and the Mexican did so, albeit 0.3s off Barrichello's Williams. Sauber decided to start Perez on prime rubber and bring him in for options at the end of the first lap in anticipation of a safety car. It didn't come, but the Mexican showed his usual knack for making the tyres last without sacrificing lap time. Also kept it clean in battle to pick up the final point when Senna made his late pitstop for primes. Verdict: Was on a hiding to nothing in qualifying, but turned in the kind of fast, consistent, tyre-conscious race performance that marks him out as a class act.
18. Sebastien Buemi	8/10
Started: 9th Retired: Engine Strategy: 1 stop before retirement (option-option) Made serene progress during Friday and Saturday and was a fixture in the top 10 throughout practice in the ever-improving Toro Rosso, now with a reliable version of the exhaust upgrade that it first trialled in Suzuka. The Swiss driver carried that form into qualifying to take ninth place, matching his best grid position of the season. After dropping behind team-mate Alguersuari on the first lap, Buemi followed him past Senna on lap 10. He was a couple of seconds behind his fellow STR driver after the first pitstops, during which he jumped Sutil, when his engine failed. Verdict: Outpaced Alguersuari in qualifying and was matching him in the race, so it's fair to assume that he would have picked up a couple of points had he lasted.
19. Jaime Alguersuari	9/10
Started: 10th Finished: 8th Strategy: 2 stops (option-option-prime) Struggled during Friday, backing the Toro Rosso into the wall during morning practice. But, in his defence, he was trying a series of development parts with a view to 2012 and come Saturday he was far happier. It showed in his lap times as he made it into Q3 for the third time this season, albeit after getting the nod over Petrov, who set an identical time, by dint of completing his lap first. Dropped behind the fast-starting Senna and Schumacher on the first lap, but ran 11th after mitigating those losses by jumping Buemi. It wasn't until Senna lost KERS that he was able to pass him using the DRS on the run to Turn 4 on lap nine. He then dispatched Sutil a few laps later. From there, all he needed to do was to lap consistently and keep his nose clean in traffic, which he did to good effect, to bank four points. Verdict: Passed Senna when he needed to and didn't put a foot wrong in the race, maximising the potential of his machinery to take the best-possible result.
20. Heikki Kovalainen	7/10
Started: 18th Finished: 14th Strategy: 2 stops (option-prime-prime) As usual, got the better of his team-mate Jarno Trulli on Saturday afternoon, but inevitably the chasm to any midfield stragglers was far too big to be bridged even with the perfect lap. In the race, he at times had the speed to battle with the Williams-Cosworths and ended up 15s ahead of Barrichello, who lost time on the opening lap with damage. Ended up 14th and couldn't have done any better thanks to Lotus being in something of a no-man's land in terms of performance. Verdict: Hard to fault qualifying or his race, but given the relative lack of opposition it was also difficult for him to shine. Accomplished as ever.
21. Jarno Trulli	6/10
Started: 19th Finished: 19th Strategy: 3 stops (option-option-option-prime) Was happier on Saturday than he was on Friday, but still ended up a couple of tenths off Kovalainen's pace during qualifying. With the HRTs and Virgins a 1.5s back, it wasn't particularly costly, however. Kept the Virgins and HRTs behind at the start, but was booted into a spin by Narain Karthikeyan at Turn 3. Suffered a puncture in the impact and after a pitstop found that the car was lacking in rear-end grip, most likely as a result of damage from the impact. This meant that he spent much of the race lapping a couple of seconds off Kovalainen's pace, cast adrift at the back of the field. Verdict: Qualifying was so-so, and it's impossible to judge the true speed of his machinery post-impact in the race.
22. Narain Karthikeyan	7/10
Started: 24th Finished: 17th Strategy: 2 stops (option-option-prime) Recalled on a one-off basis for his home grand prix and with only four Friday morning appearances since June's European Grand Prix was bang on team-mate Daniel Ricciardo's pace from the start of the weekend. He ended up only 0.02s off the Australian in qualifying, although a slightly harsh penalty for impeding Schumacher during Q1 while on a second attempt at a run bumped him from 22nd to 23rd on the grid. "He is rated very highly and to jump back in the car and be within a couple of hundredths [of Ricciardo] is serious," said Karthikeyan, who reckoned he had proved a point. He delivered in the race as well, keeping himself out of trouble, save for booting Trulli into a spin on the opening lap, and despite proving to be a little inconsistent, likely a legacy of not having taken to the grid since June, he came within 0.5s of beating Jerome d'Ambrosio. Verdict: Considering his little recent running and the massive pressure on his shoulders from the home crowd, did a very good job.
23. Daniel Ricciardo	7/10
Started: 23rd Finished: 18th Strategy: 3 stops (option-option-option-prime) Optimistic after Friday's running, the Australian was a little disappointed in the wake of qualifying, describing his weekend as "a bit up and down". This was due to a combination of being hit with a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change after Saturday morning practice that dropped him behind d'Ambrosio on the grid, and the knowledge that he "didn't put it all together" on his best lap. He completed the first lap ahead of d'Ambrosio and moved ahead of his team-mate on the second lap. That got him to the front of the HRT v Virgin battle and he would likely have stayed there but for suffering a suspected puncture and having to make an extra pitstop on lap 32. Made a stop for his first set of primes on his penultimate lap, dropping 30s behind his team-mate. Verdict: While qualifying wasn't perfect, his race performance would probably have netted him 16th place but for the extra pitstop.
24. Timo Glock	6/10
Started: 22nd Retired: Accident damage Strategy: 1 stop (prime-option) Looked to have the HRTs covered on pace during practice, albeit not necessarily by as big a margin as in recent races, but didn't have the chance to prove it after he lost fifth gear on his first run in Q1. That left him outside of 107 per cent, although there was never any doubt that he would be allowed to race. Kitted out with a replacement gearbox, he completed even fewer laps in the race than he had in qualifying after clashing with Kobayashi in the first-corner melee. After pitting for a new front wing, he retired with damage from the shunt. Verdict: Everything that could go wrong did go wrong, but there wasn't much Glock could do about it.
25. Jerome d'Ambrosio	6/10
Started: 21st Finished: 16th Strategy: 2 stops (option-option-prime) As he was a couple of tenths off the time achieved by Glock during Saturday morning practice, it's fair to conclude that d'Ambrosio underachieved in qualifying - and also blotted his copybook with a crash during Friday practice. Not that he denied his qualifying was less than perfect, admitting "it wasn't a great qualifying" and that he struggled with the constantly changing grip levels at the Buddh International Circuit. Sat behind both HRTs during the first stint and was still there after the first round of stops, but jumped Ricciardo when the Australian stopped for a suspected puncture on lap 25. Ran five more laps on the option tyre before his final stop to jump Karthikeyan, just holding him off by half-a-second at the flag. Verdict: Mediocre during practice and achieved the best possible result in the race, albeit not as convincingly as he might have done.