Austrian Grand Prix- Driver Ratings
Nico Rosberg’s win at the Austrian Grand Prix was excellent, and thoroughly deserved for his scintillating weekend.
However, he wasn’t the one driver who produced a 10/10 performance in Spielberg, while one former champion slumped to the lowest score of the season.
Find out how everyone got on:
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes. 2nd.
Hamilton was second best all weekend, as Rosberg deservedly ran out on top. On Friday, the 30-year-old struggled to find the right grip, and that showed in qualifying where he spent most of the time 0.3s behind his team-mate.
However, Hamilton’s brilliance is that he can pull rabbits out of the hat at any given moment, and his lap time to set pole was rather special.
In the race, he got a decent start but couldn’t stop Rosberg surging by. He lacked the pace to win, but a silly penalty cost him the chance.
7/10.
Nico Rosberg, Mercedes W06 wins
Nico Rosberg, Mercedes. 1st.
Rosberg likes this track, and he settled into a nice rhythm on Friday. In qualifying, his superiority in the middle sector became apparent and he looked destined for pole.
Hamilton’s lap was tough to beat, but he was on course to do it when he lost control and slid into the gravel. The sense of ‘Rosberg’s blown it’ hung in the air until race day, when he took the bull by the horns and dominated.
Hamilton couldn’t live with his searing pace, even without his penalty.
9/10.
Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari. 4th
Vettel’s pace was a real concern for Mercedes on Friday, as the Ferrari man looked like being a genuine threat in the race.
He comfortably sewed up his usual qualifying berth of third, but his race pace was disappointing. A poor pit-stop cost him a podium, despite his best efforts to get past Massa.
7/10
Crashed Ferrari of Raikkonen
Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari. Retired.
What a miserable weekend this was for Kimi Raikkonen, who ended up in the barriers with Fernando Alonso’s McLaren on top of him.
A communication disaster left Raikkonen down in 18th on the grid and both driver and team blamed each other.
In the race, the crash seemed to be his fault as he dropped the rear on the exit of a tight corner for the second race in a row. He’ll want to forget this weekend, and fast.
1/10.
Felipe Massa, Williams- 3rd
What more could Massa have done? The Brazilian beat his highly-rated team-mate in qualifying, finished 30 seconds ahead of him in the race and held off the faster Ferrari of Vettel to score his first podium of the season.
Massa continues to be competitive against Bottas, showing us how good he is.
9/10.
Valterri Bottas
Valtteri Bottas, Williams- 5th
Bottas was outdone by Massa over the whole weekend, but he showed his undoubted talent on race day with some scintillating overtakes.
In qualifying, he struggled in Q3 and fell behind Nico Hulkenberg, while Massa started fourth. However, a bold move around the outside wrestled the place back and secured fifth place.
7/10.
Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull- 10th
Ultimately, Ricciardo did well to salvage a point but he had endured a miserable weekend up to that point.
The Aussie had brake problems in qualifying and ended up 13th, while an engine penalty condemned him to 18th.
However, he remained composed on race day, maintained strong pace and brought the car home in 10th.
7/10.
Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull RB11
Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull- 12th
Kvyat has impressed in recent weeks and did so again in qualifying by putting the car in eighth. However, an engine penalty knocked him down to 15th.
A collision with Sergio Pérez on lap one broke his wing, and forced him to make a pit- stop. He couldn’t recover from there, despite a gutsy fight.
5/10.
Fernando Alonso, McLaren- Retired
It’s hard to give Alonso a rating based on his anonymous weekend, as the misery continued at McLaren.
The Spaniard was given a combined ludicrous 25-place grid penalty and retired on the opening lap after being collected by Raikkonen’s spinning Ferrari.
5/10.
Jenson Button, McLaren- Retired
Like Alonso, Button was handed a 25-place grid penalty meaning he started at the back of the grid.
However, a system failure ended his weekend after just nine laps.
5/10.
Sergio Pérez
Sergio Pérez, Force India- 9th
Perez’s solid season continued with more points after an impressive drive from 13th.
The Mexican disappointed in qualifying in comparison to his team-mate, but he recovered in the race to beat the likes of Felipe Nasr, Daniel Ricciardo and Danil Kvyat.
7/10.
Nico Hulkenberg, Force India- 6th
Hulkenberg has been slightly below par so far in 2015, but his Le Mans victory certainly spurred him on to a fine performance in Spielberg.
The German remarkably qualified fifth on the grid, and although he was overtaken by the faster Bottas, his display was the standout one of the weekend.
When Force India gets their new car in Silverstone, Hulkenberg could be in for a fine summer.
10/10.
Max Vestappen
Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso- 8th
Verstappen produced another excellent qualifying session at a low-downforce track by securing seventh, and beating his team-mate Carlos Sainz.
A fast start saw him jump past Bottas and into sixth, and although he did well to hold him off for a few laps, the Williams drivers’ pace advantage saw him get past.
However, he held firm to take some more points and go past Sainz in the standings.
8/10.
Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso- Retired
Sainz failed match the pace of his team-mate and was noticeably off it all weekend.
He qualified 12th and made a fine start to rise to ninth, but a slow pit-stop and electrical failure cost him potential points.
6/10.
Romain Grosjean, Lotus F1 E21
Romain Grosjean, Lotus- Retired
Grosjean has struggled to match the pace of Maldonado in recent races and that was evidenced again despite him qualifying one place ahead in ninth.
In the race, he fell backwards and may not have scored points if his gearbox hadn’t have given up.
6/10.
Pastor Maldonado, Lotus- 7th
Maldonado seems to have hit form at the right time and bagged another set of valuable points. The team were understandably underwhelmed in qualifying as they thought they could put pressure on Williams ahead.
However, despite a ropey start Maldonado raced extremely well. He was fast, consistent and his overtakes were impressive. Plus, he kept the car out of the wall again (just), so it’s a job well done.
8/10.
Marcus Ericsson, Sauber- 13th
This was a weekend to instantly forget for the Swede, who limped home in 13th place.
In qualifying, he finished 0.4s behind his team-mate, while a jumped start gave him a drive-through penalty.
Later in the race, he ran over some debris and then his car shut down twice on track. He managed to spark it back into life, but it all contributed to a woeful weekend.
3/10.
Felipe Nasr of Sauber in action at the Bahrain Grand Prix, 2015.
Felipe Nasr, Sauber- 11th
Nasr was arguably the star of the show in qualifying as he wrestled the car into a brilliant ninth place.
However, brake problems on race day saw him start to fall backwards over time and he struggled to hang on to a point.
4/10.
Will Stevens, Marussia- Retired
Stevens had a disastrous qualifying session, where he finished 1.2s behind Roberto Merhi. He only lasted one lap in the race due a punctured radiator, which ended a miserable weekend.
4/10.
Roberto Merhi, Marussia- 14th
Merhi’s impressive mini run of form continued with a solid performance in Speilberg.
The Spaniard trounced Will Stevens in qualifying, while he showed good pace over the course of the race, despite finishing a distant last.
7/10.
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