We rate the drivers after the Spanish GP

Red Bull-Renault RB9
Start: 3rd
Finish: 4th
Strategy: 4 stops (medium/hard/hard/medium/hard)
Rating: 8

It was a surprise to see Vettel unable to mount a serious challenge for pole position, although given Mercedes' race-run tyre management troubles, perhaps it was best to consider his third place a class pole as far as the race was concerned.

His Sunday afternoon was all about tyre management, and he was unable to do anything about Alonso after being undercut at the first round of pitstops. Hard to fault his drive, as tyre concerns made it difficult to have a serious crack at the podium.

Red Bull-Renault RB9
Start: 7th
Finish: 5th
Strategy: 4 stops (medium/hard/hard/medium/hard)
Rating: 7

The former Spanish GP winner was upbeat about kickstarting a world championship push at a circuit where he has a good record. Unfortunately, by the time he reached the 'Webber Chicane' in the final sector in Q3 he had taken the best out of his tyres and struggled badly for traction.

A poor start made his life harder, but he was one of the first to pit and was able to jump into top-five contention. In the circumstances, the best result possible.

Ferrari F138
Start: 5th
Finish: 1st
Strategy: 4 stops (medium/hard/hard/medium/hard)
Rating: 9

Reckoned he got the best out of the car in qualifying, although his split times suggested he might have been able to pick up one more place with a perfect lap.

But aside from that, it's impossible to fault the Spaniard, who was at his typically forceful best in the first 30 seconds of the race - notably going around the outside of Hamilton at Turn 3 - to climb to third. Jumped Vettel at the first stops and soon passed Rosberg, never again to relinquish his grip on the race.

Ferrari F138
Start: 9th
Finish: 3rd
Strategy: 4 stops (medium/hard/hard/medium/hard)
Rating: 7

Was bang on Alonso's pace during qualifying and was fastest of all in the tricky middle sector, but ended up four places behind him on the grid thanks to the one-thousandth of a second deficit and a penalty for impeding Webber in Q2.

Despite that, Massa made short work of getting into podium contention, jumping to sixth on the opening lap. Did exactly what Ferrari asked of him by comfortably beating Vettel to the final podium position.

McLaren-Mercedes MP4-28
Start: 14th
Finish: 8th
Strategy: 3 stops (medium/hard/hard/hard)
Rating: 6

Button had high hopes heading into the weekend, expectations that were only partly fulfilled by the step forward made by the car. Offset tyre pressures made it difficult to draw any conclusions about his qualifying pace, although he also appeared to take too much out of the rubber early in the lap.

Drove an effective race on a three-stopper, but had he started in the top 10 he could well have finished ahead of Rosberg and di Resta.

McLaren-Mercedes MP4-28
Start: 8th
Finish: 9th
Strategy: 4 stops (medium/hard/hard/medium/hard)
Rating: 7

After being outqualified by Button in the first four weekends of their McLaren alliance, Perez grabbed the MP4-28 by the scruff of the neck to put it an impressive seventh in Q2.

Granted, the gap to Button was accentuated by his team-mate's tyre-pressure problem, but he deserves credit for his performance. The race was tougher and he was unable to match Button's three-stopper, ending up following his team-mate dutifully home to bank a solid, if unspectacular, ninth place.

Lotus-Renault E21
Start: 4th
Finish: 2nd
Strategy: 3 stops (medium/medium/hard/hard)
Rating: 9

Another fine weekend for the Finn. You could argue that he might have been able to nick another position in qualifying, but he started roughly where a Lotus should have been.

The early laps of the race also weren't perfect as he dropped to fifth, but he executed his three-stop strategy well. Although he never emerged as a serious threat to Alonso, he gave the Spaniard something to think about and gained six points on Vettel in the drivers' championship.

Lotus-Renault E21
Start: 6th
Finish: DNF
Strategy: Retired (medium)
Rating: 6

On paper, Grosjean's weekend looks pretty weak. But the pace was there. In qualifying, he was just over a tenth behind team-mate Raikkonen even though he had to rely on his first Q3 run.

That was impressive, although it would have been even better had he not made a mistake in Turn 1 and had to scrub his second attempt. His race was short-lived, with a suspension component failure forcing him to retire early while in a decent position.

Mercedes F1 W04
Start: 1st
Finish: 6th
Strategy: 3 stops (medium/hard/hard/hard)
Rating: 9

His pole lap - or, more accurate to say pole laps, for both Q3 runs were good enough for pole - was superb, combining both precision with the pacing needed to keep the tyres sharp for the final sector.

It was always going to be tough in the race, but to his credit Rosberg managed to pull off a three-stop strategy and salvage sixth place. As his team-mate proved, it could have been significantly worse, so Rosberg deserves huge credit.

Mercedes F1 W04
Start: 2nd
Finish: 12th
Strategy: 4 stops (medium/hard/hard/medium/hard)
Rating: 5

Hamilton described his race as one of the worst he has ever endured and it is easy to see why. Not only was he not quite as quick as Rosberg over a single lap, but he got lost on set-up and struggled even more with tyre management.

He flat-spotted his tyres in the first stint, but held on to the top five, only for a traffic-light problem at his first stop to cost him time. Thereafter, he was never a points threat.

Sauber-Ferrari C32
Start: 15th
Finish: 15th
Strategy: 5 stops (medium/medium/hard/hard/hard/medium)
Rating: 6

You can only imagine the extent to which his heart dropped when he enquired after Q2 where he had qualified, having nailed an excellent lap. Unfortunately, the Sauber remains a tricky car over a single lap and he was down on the eighth row.

Got himself into points contention during the race, but was released too close to Vergne's STR. That said, he had time to avoid the contact and therefore the extra pitstop and penalty that ruined his race.

Sauber-Ferrari C32
Start: 19th
Finish: 11th
Strategy: 4 stops (medium/medium/hard/medium/hard)
Rating: 8

Considering his recent struggles, Gutierrez deserves plenty of credit for his performance in Spain. Until the Sauber pairing's final run in Q2, he was only a couple of tenths off Hulkenberg and the eventual four-tenths gap (and impeding penalty) arguably shrouded the tidy job Gutierrez was doing.

Had a clean race, enjoying a brief cameo in the lead, and handled himself creditably in traffic. Only three tenths off a maiden point, he described his 11th as "like a win".

Force India-Mercedes VJM06
Start: 10th
Finish: 7th
Strategy: 4 stops (medium/hard/medium/medium/hard)
Rating: 8

The Scot's strong start to the season continued in Barcelona. It wasn't a foregone conclusion that a Force India would make Q3, but di Resta was able to pip the two Toro Rossos.

Consolidated 10th in the first stint, but benefitted from the troubles of Sutil and Grosjean, plus the alarming tyre problems hit by Hamilton, to climb to seventh late on. Had a sniff of nicking sixth off Rosberg, but proved unable to make a move stick.

Force India-Mercedes VJM06
Start: 13th
Finish: 13th
Strategy: 4 stops (medium/medium/hard/hard/medium)
Rating: 7

Since his impressive comeback seventh place in the Australian Grand Prix in March, Sutil has arguably been the unluckiest driver in F1. Qualifying should have been better, although he did suffer with traffic, but after a stellar first lap to jump to eighth, a crossthreaded wheelnut in his first pitstop condemned him to last place.

His pace was plenty good enough to have at least matched di Resta's seventh place, but instead he spent the afternoon buried in the lower-midfield traffic.

Williams-Renault FW35
Start: 17th
Finish: 14th
Strategy: 5 stops (medium/hard/medium/hard/medium)
Rating: 5

What a difference a year makes. The Venezuelan won from pole last year, but this time around was lapped by the man who he defeated in a straight fight in 2012. The Williams was improved, but not by enough to move it into comfortable Q2 contention.

Maldonado was outqualified by Bottas for the third time this season, seemingly as a result of his desire to try to drive around the car's limitations. Speeding in the pits didn't help, but didn't cost any points.

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

The Finn continues to make the best of a difficult situation at Williams and just shaded his team-mate in qualifying. Considering Maldonado was the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix winner, that's a fine effort.

Maintained his level-headed approach in the race to battle against a car problem that made the rear hard to control and tyre management more difficult. A nothing result, but in the circumstances it was a decent, determined performance in a car that wasn't working at all well.

Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR8
Start: 12th
Finish: DNF
Strategy: Retired (medium/hard/medium/hard/medium)
Rating: 7

Difficult to fault Vergne's qualifying performance too much given the almost non-existent gap to Ricciardo. Held position on the first lap and was in the thick of the battle for minor points when he was hit by Hulkenberg in the pitlane.

The resulting delay and damage, added to having to return to the pits a few lap later when debris damaged a tyre, cost him a heap of time and the team pulled him out of the race with 14 laps to go.

Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR8
Start: 11th
Finish: 10th
Strategy: 4 stops (medium/hard/medium/hard/hard)
Rating: 7

After a dire weekend in Bahrain, the Toro Rosso seemed far stronger in Spain and looked a genuine Q3 threat. Ricciardo missed out on the top 10 by just a tenth and reckoned he got the most out of the car, but given the gap it's conceivable that the pace was there to pip di Resta.

A point for 10th was good, but without making a bad start and dropping to 13th he might have beaten the two McLarens.

Caterham-Renault CT03
Start: 22nd
Finish: 17th
Strategy: 3 stops (hard/medium/hard/hard)
Rating: 6

Struggled to make the best of the car during practice and qualifying, complaining of a balance problem. Whether this was a consequence of running the new front wing (unlike his team-mate) or not is hard to say, but the two Caterhams were similar enough that he probably shouldn't have been so far behind van der Garde or outpaced by the Marussias.

Pic's race performance was stronger and he was only two-and-a-half seconds behind the struggling Bottas at the flag.

Caterham-Renault CT03
Start: 18th
Finish: DNF
Strategy: Retired (medium/hard/hard)
Rating: 7

After running without any upgrades in Bahrain, van der Garde benefitted from a more up-to-date specification in Spain, albeit without the latest front wing. Performed well in qualifying, outpacing Pic, and did a good job in the early stages of the race to hang on to Button in the early traffic jam.

Can't be held responsible for Caterham failing to attach the left-rear wheel, which ultimately led to his retirement. Probably his strongest all-round weekend of the season.

Marussia-Cosworth MR-02
Start: 20th
Finish: 18th
Strategy: 4 stops (hard/hard/hard/medium/hard)
Rating: 7

After his strong start to the season Bianchi has made a big impression, but the recent improvement of the Caterhams has put pressure on him to get the best out of the car.

Underachieved in qualifying to end up behind van der Garde, and his first-lap misjudgement, tagging another car, meant he wasn't able to have a clear run at trying to beat the lead Caterham of Pic, despite showing decent pace thereafter.

Marussia-Cosworth MR-02
Start: 21st
Finish: 19th
Strategy: 3 stops (hard/hard/medium/hard)
Rating: 6

Another obtrusively solid weekend's work from Chilton. Missing Friday morning practice to allow Rodolfo Gonzalez in the car meant he was on the back foot, but thanks to a clean run during FP2 and FP3 he found the speed necessary to keep Bianchi on his toes, ending up within three tenths in qualifying.

The race was a mixed bag, with a poor start and a slow first stop not helping, but his pace was decent enough without being stunning.