We rate the drivers after the Chinese GP

Red Bull-Renault RB9
Start: 9th
Finish: 4th
Strategy: 3 stops (medium-medium-medium-soft)
Rating: 8

After several weeks of criticism for riding roughshod over team orders in Malaysia, Vettel came out fighting in China, both on and off the track. With Red Bull unconvinced of its pace, he opted not to set a time in Q3, which was a shame as he probably had the speed to contend for pole.

He pulled off his strategy well, although overcooking it into Turn 11 on the last lap probably cost him any lingering chance of nicking third off Hamilton.

Red Bull-Renault RB9
Start: 22nd (pits)
Finish: DNF
Strategy: retired (soft-medium)
Rating: 5

The Australian came into the weekend as the subject of intense scrutiny, but confident of riding a wave of indignation to a strong result. It didn't pan out like that, though, as he ground to a halt in Q2 having been inadvertently short-fuelled.

From the pitlane, he had made reasonable progress in the early stages of the race before lunging at Vergne optimistically into Turn 6 in the expectation that he would be let through. A few minutes later, he was out having shed a wheel.

Ferrari F138
Start: 3rd
Finish: 1st
Strategy: 3 stops (soft-medium-medium-medium)
Rating: 10

There are few more impressive spectacles in F1 than Alonso when he has control of a race and knows exactly what he needs to deliver.

While he perhaps should have beaten Raikkonen in qualifying, his race performance was outstanding and in the classic Michael Schumacher mould, banging in quick laps when it really mattered, such as on in-laps, to eke out a 10-second lead almost by stealth. Raikkonen's car damage, however, certainly made it easier to pull off an immaculate win.

Ferrari F138
Start: 5th
Finish: 6th
Strategy: 3 stops (soft-medium-medium-medium)
Rating: 6

Friday practice hinted that this might be Massa's best chance at a first victory since 2008, with both single-lap and long-run pace impressive. As track grip increased, however, he started to struggle and couldn't get himself into the fight for pole position.

He struggled with graining in the race and faded from the second place he had held early on to sixth, more than 40s off Alonso, which somewhat crushed the momentum Massa has built of late. Average when it counted.

McLaren-Mercedes MP4-28
Start: 8th
Finish: 5th
Strategy: 2 stops (medium-medium-soft)
Rating: 9

Had you asked Button in Melbourne a few weeks ago if he would like to finish only 22s behind the lead in China, he'd have bitten your hand off. This was another classy weekend from the Briton, who made it into Q3 comfortably and executed a two-stop strategy to perfection.

Fifth place was as good as it was going to get for McLaren, particularly as Button managed to finish more than five seconds clear of Massa's faster Ferrari.

McLaren-Mercedes MP4-28
Start: 12th
Finish: 11th
Strategy: 2 stops (medium-soft-medium)
Rating: 3

Perez turned in overlooked decent performances in the first two weekends of the season, but China was a disaster. He crashed in the pit entry road at the end of Friday morning practice, had several other practice offs and fell in Q2 after lapping more than half a second off Button.

"Qualifying was probably the worst I ever had," he said on Saturday, and he had a similarly underwhelming race. However, he didn't deserve to be blamed for his clash with Raikkonen as he was entirely unsighted.

Lotus-Renault E21
Start: 2nd
Finish: 2nd
Strategy: 3 stops (soft-medium-medium-medium)
Rating: 9

After a disappointing weekend in Malaysia, Raikkonen did an excellent job in qualifying to earn himself his first front-row start since the 2009 Monaco Grand Prix. Arguably only front wing damage sustained in his collision with Perez prevented him pushing Alonso harder.

But while Raikkonen blamed the McLaren driver, you have to take the lion's share of the responsibility for the consequences if you start to pull alongside another car on its blind side at the exit of a fast kink.

Lotus-Renault E21
Start: 6th
Finish: 9th
Strategy: 3 stops (soft-medium-medium-medium)
Rating: 5

A return of his mystery set-up problem dogged Grosjean early in the weekend, but he was far happier come qualifying. The gap to Raikkonen was disappointing, but at least partly excusable thanks to his earlier problems.

While he did at least salvage a third consecutive points finish in ninth, Grosjean's race performance was average, spending too much time caught up in traffic and finishing behind cars he shouldn't have. Solid so far, he needs to unlock that prodigious speed soon.

Mercedes F1 W04
Start: 4th
Finish: DNF
Strategy: retired (soft-medium-medium)
Rating: 6

Things were looking very promising for the 2012 Chinese Grand Prix winner during practice, until, that is, a suspension problem robbed him of his qualifying simulation on Saturday morning.

From there, he was playing catch-up and was unable to force himself into the fight for pole position that was won by his team-mate. His race lasted only 20 laps thanks to a rear anti-roll bar problem, but he is unlikely to have been in the mix for anything better than fifth place.

Mercedes F1 W04
Start: 1st
Finish: 3rd
Strategy: 3 stops (soft-medium-medium-medium)
Rating: 9

The Mercedes is a good car, but Hamilton's first pole position for the German marque owed as much to his single-lap brilliance as anything else.

On paper, third seems a disappointing result, but realistically the race pace of the Ferrari and even a hobbled Lotus was slightly better, partly thanks to the Mercedes still being hard on its tyres. Hamilton also deserves credit for holding his nerve in the face of a charging Vettel late on to earn third place.

Sauber-Ferrari C32
Start: 10th
Finish: 10th
Strategy: 3 stops (medium-medium-soft-medium)
Rating: 8

With the Sauber far from the most competitive car on the grid, Hulkenberg is proving his worth to his new employer by dragging eye-catching performances out of middling machinery.

Making Q3 was an achievement and he was able to lead the race comfortably. Partly, this was down to starting on the medium rubber, but this laid the foundations for what probably should have been seventh place, but for the car's distinct lack of pace in the final stint. A point was still a good return.

Sauber-Ferrari C32
Start: 17th
Finish: DNF
Strategy: retired (medium)
Rating: 2

The Mexican claimed not to be worried about his qualifying performances heading into the Chinese Grand Prix weekend, but a big mistake at Turn 6, which he reckoned cost him around eight tenths of a second, meant that he fell in Q1.

He had little chance to make up for it in the race, misjudging the combination of DRS-assisted top speed increase and loss of downforce at Turn 14 to torpedo Sutil's Force India. In mitigation, a foolish rookie error is forgivable. Once.

Force India-Mercedes VJM06
Start: 11th
Finish: 8th
Strategy: 3 stops (medium-medium-medium-soft)
Rating: 7

The Scot wasn't happy with life in Saturday morning practice, but pulled an excellent lap out of the bag to beat Sutil by just over a tenth in qualifying. His race was compromised when he was barged into by his team-mate at Turn 14 on lap one, which dropped him to 14th.

From there, however, he drove an excellent race. Incisive in traffic, he was able to capitalise on his strong pace to bag eighth, which was as good as it was going to get after lap one.

Force India-Mercedes VJM06
Start: 13th
Finish: DNF
Strategy: retired (soft)
Rating: 6

Sutil looked a safe bet to win the intra-team qualifying war, although come the moment he struggled to find the Q3-contending pace he was expecting. He blamed changing track conditions for his solid, but unspectacular lap.

He was a little forceful on the first lap, pushing di Resta onto the grass at the hairpin, but had he not been rear-ended by the out-of-control Gutierrez at Turn 14 and put out of the race, he would have been in the mix for a seventh to 10th-place finish.

Williams-Renault FW35
Start: 14th
Finish: 14th
Strategy: 3 stops (soft-medium-medium-medium)
Rating: 7

He deserves credit for dragging a decent lap time out of the troublesome Williams in qualifying, but the car simply did not have the pace to threaten those ahead come Sunday.

On the positive side, while Maldonado has had some scruffy moments during the first two weekends of the year, and in free practice in China, his race was clean. He fell behind the soft-shod Bottas late on, although that was as much down to time lost in the first stint as anything he did wrong.

Williams-Renault FW35
Start: 16th
Finish: 13th
Strategy: 3 stops (medium-medium-medium-soft)
Rating: 7

The fact that Bottas and Maldonado finished fewer than two seconds apart at the back of the midfield group, despite running inverse strategies, tells you everything about the level of the Williams.

Qualifying was disappointing for Bottas, who found the aerodynamically sensitive FW35 unduly affected by the wind, and ended up almost half a second off Maldonado. His race was better and, on softs, he was able to overtake Maldonado on the penultimate lap. A decent weekend considering the far-from-perfect circumstances.

Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR8
Start: 15th
Finish: 12th
Strategy: 3 stops (medium-medium-soft-medium)
Rating: 6

Vergne remains a frustrating enigma who too often struggles to piece together a 'complete' weekend. The pace was there in fits and starts in China, but crucially it wasn't throughout qualifying, where he was significantly off Ricciardo's pace in both Q1 and Q2.

That meant he was always up against it in the race, but his pace was good enough to be a points threat had he not been clattered by Webber at Turn 6 on lap 16.

Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR8
Start: 7th
Finish: 7th
Strategy: 3 stops (soft-medium-medium-medium)
Rating: 9

When Ricciardo is at one with the car he is stunningly quick, and Q2 was one of those moments as he slipped into the top 10 ahead of the faster Force Indias. Seventh on the grid, last of the soft-shod runners, was his reward.

He drove almost immaculately in the race, save for clipping the rear of Rosberg's Mercedes, necessitating a slightly earlier-than-planned first stop for a new front wing. If he can deliver this consistently, he's Red Bull material.

Caterham-Renault CT03
Start: 20th
Finish: 16th
Strategy: 3 stops (soft-medium-medium-medium)
Rating: 8

Pic, like his team-mate, found the snappy Caterham difficult to lean on in qualifying. That said, although he shaded van der Garde it would have only taken a few hundredths of a second to depose Chilton.

In the race, he had a damned good go at beating Bianchi, jumping him in the first round of stops and keeping the Marussia driver behind him on the track before losing the position thanks to a combination of a slower stop and Bianchi undercutting him.

Caterham-Renault CT03
Start: 21st
Finish: 18th
Strategy: 3 stops (soft-medium-medium-medium)
Rating: 6

All in all, it was a solid weekend from the Dutchman, who fought the good fight against oversteer and as good as matched his more experienced (in F1 terms) team-mate in qualifying. That pace didn't seem to carry over into the race, though.

He ended up more than a minute behind Pic having not shown anything approaching the same turn of speed. There wasn't any particularly obvious reason for this, even to van der Garde. Best described as a character-building race.

Marussia-Cosworth MR-02
Start: 18th
Finish: 15th
Strategy: 3 stops (soft-medium-medium-medium)
Rating: 7

It's a measure of how well he is driving that even the least convincing qualifying performance of Bianchi's short grand prix career was good enough to keep him comfortably clear of his team-mate and the Caterhams.

He flat-spotted his first set of tyres and dropped behind Pic at the first stops, but a fast turnaround by his crew later allowed him to jump the Frenchman for a third consecutive 'class' victory. Still a good weekend, but it didn't seem to come as easily.

Marussia-Cosworth MR-02
Start: 19th
Finish: 17th
Strategy: 3 stops (soft-medium-medium-medium)
Rating: 6

Chilton looked more comfortable, having struggled in Malaysia, but car problems cost him both Friday afternoon practice and a second, representative, Q1 run. He ended the race 38s behind Bianchi, although 12 of those were lost by lap eight after he had to go a lap longer than the Frenchman.

Couldn't challenge Pic, but did catch and then pull away from van der Garde after dropping behind him in the first round of stops. Not stunning, but very respectable and continuing to improve.