Spanish Grand Prix ratings
Nico Rosberg breezed back into world championship contention with victory in Spain, but his wasn’t the only story on a busy race day.
Read below to find out how each driver got on, over an intriguing weekend.
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes. 2nd.
Hamilton couldn’t hide his frustration at the end of the race as he suffered his first blip of the season. On Friday, he complained that his set up wasn’t correct, while he was comfortably out-qualified by Rosberg.
The champion made a poor start to the race on Sunday, and was quickly passed by Vettel, although he showed good pace to make a three-stop strategy work and he finally came home in second.
7/10.
Nico Rosberg, Mercedes. 1st.
It was a perfect weekend for Rosberg, who finally secured his first win of the season. He produced a clean, fast lap in qualifying to take pole and he managed the race superbly from start to finish. More of the same in Monaco, and the Mercedes rivalry might just be back on.
10/10.
Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari. 3rd.
There is a sense of disappointment at Ferrari after their below-par performance and it is clear that Mercedes have made a greater step forward.
Vettel fought hard with Hamilton on race day but ultimately lacked the pace to secure second. He was best of the rest once again though and can be happy with the final result.
7/10.
Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari. 5th.
Raikkonen will be disappointed with his weekend, as qualifying once again let him down. A fast start saw him jump to fifth, but his tyre strategy didn’t work out and he couldn’t get past Bottas at the end.
If Raikkonen is going to seriously compete with Vettel, then his qualifying needs to improve.
6/10.
Felipe Massa
Felipe Massa, Williams. 6th.
Massa’s long-run pace was a concern for Ferrari on Friday, but the Brazilian messed up his qualifying by running wide on his only Q3 run.
In the race he made a good start and jumped to sixth, but any progress beyond that was impossible.
6/10.
Valtteri Bottas, Williams. 4th.
Bottas appears back to his best after a tough start to the season and has taken back the mantle of Williams’ number one driver.
A superb qualifying saw him snatch fourth, while he almost got past Hamilton in Turn one. Showed patience and defensive capabilities in the race, and did well to keep Kimi behind him.
8/10.
Daniel Ricciardo
Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull. 7th.
Ricciardo’s reliability woes showed no signs of stopping in Spain, as he spent almost all of Friday stuck in the garage.
He did well to drag his ailing car into the top 10, and took advantage of other teams’ errors to come home in seventh. It was the best he could have hoped for.
7/10.
Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull. 10th.
Kvyat must have thought that his fortunes had changed when he got through Friday unscathed, but a water leak stopped him in FP3.
He did well to qualify in eighth, two places ahead of Ricciardo, but he made a woeful start and dropped to 13th. He recovered well to come 10th, but no doubt more points were on offer.
6/10.
Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso, McLaren. Retired.
McLaren showed improvement once again and are now clearly ahead of both Force India and Sauber.
Alonso did well to finish 13th in qualifying but his race was wrecked when his brakes failed. But there are positive signs for the former champions, and Monaco presents a good chance of points.
7/10.
Jenson Button, McLaren. 16th.
This was the first weekend where the former champion was clearly off the pace of his team-mate, and he qualified behind him on Saturday.
A poor start left him lumbered down the field and a “scary” throttle problem meant that progress was impossible.
6/10.
Sergio Pérez
Sergio Pérez, Force India- 13th
Force India’s drivers can’t wait for their new car to be available from the British Grand Prix in July, as they have little hope of scoring many points with the current model.
In qualifying, Perez finished 18th behind his team-mate, but his delicate feel for tyres allowed him to produce a mammoth 30-lap stint. He jumped both Hulkenberg and Marcus Ericsson on his way to 13th.
7/10.
Nico Hulkenberg, Force India- 15th
Hulkenberg proved once again that he is the fastest Force India driver over one lap, but he lacks the tyre management of Perez.
They were more competitive on Sunday, but the German still limped home in 15th.
6/10.
Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso- 11th
It was a weekend of two halves for Toro Rosso, who promised so much but delivered so little.
On Friday, Verstappen looked fast and he backed that up with a fine sixth in qualifying. However, overheating tyres ruined his race, while he gifted a point to Sainz right at the end.
7/10.
Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso- 13th
Like his younger team, Sainz excelled in qualifying and lined up fifth for his first ever home grands prix.
A poor start and overheating tyres cost him but he battled hard towards the end. He’ll be happy to have beaten Verstappen late on and claimed a vital point.
5/10.
Romain Grosjean, Lotus- 8th
It was a weekend of damage limitation for Grosjean, who hardly drove at all on Friday. Jolyon Palmer replaced him in FP1, while wing damage prevented him from competing in FP2.
On Saturday, he was disappointed to come 11th behind both Red Bull and Toro Rosso, but he took advantage of Toro Rosso’s poor strategy to snatch some points.
Almost ran over his Jackman though, and that costs him a mark here.
6/10.
Pastor Maldonado, Lotus- Retired
Maldonado may have retired due to a collision again, but he was on course for some points in Barcelona, which is the scene of his sole win in 2012.
He qualified stably in 12th, but an innocuous clash with Grosjean at Turn 3 would prove to be his downfall.
He showed good pace up to his first stop, which knocked him down the order, and can take pride from an improved weekend.
7/10.
Marcus Ericsson
Marcus Ericsson, Sauber- 14th
This was Ericsson’s worst showing of the season as he bowed out in the first part of qualifying for the first time since the opening race in Australia.
In the race he was slower than his team-mate and a poor stop cost him dearly in his fight with Sergio Pérez.
7/10.
Felipe Nasr, Sauber- 12th
Sauber have been left behind slightly in the development race, with 12th the highest they could have achieved.
Nasr was disappointed not to finish ahead of McLaren in qualifying, while he benefited from Alonso and Maldonado’s retirement in the race.
6/10.
Will Stevens, Marussia- 17th
It’s a case of job done again for the British driver, who totally out-performed his team-mate for the fifth race in a row.
He slumped behind Roberto Merhi at the start, but it only took 12 laps for him to get by and drive off into the distance.
He must be praying for a quicker team-mate so he can really test himself.
7/10.
Roberto Mehri, Marussia- 18th
Merhi looks out of his depth at this level as he was outclassed by Stevens again.
He was slow in qualifying, but made a good start in the race. He couldn’t keep Stevens behind for long though and the Englishman breezed past 12 laps later.
He spent the rest of the time on his own at the back.
4/10.
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