Never mind what Autosport says, what do we think? Vettel: 7 - Despite the radio call and ignoring team orders, got pole and was always there in the race Webber: 8 - Better qualifying and ran a good race. Deserved more than the 2nd place, but got buggered. Alonso: 4 - Outpaced by Massa practically the whole weekend, mistake on first lap and should have pitted to replace front wing. Massa: 7 - Front row start, faded a bit in the race but came back to get solid points again Button: 8 - Much better, McLaren sodding up his pit stop hid what would have been a good fight with teh Mercedes at the end Perez: 6 - Nothing spectacular Kimi: 5 - Average weekend and race was littered with errors Grosjean: 7 - Better after Melbourne and finished ahead of error-prone Kimi Rosberg: 8 - Solid performance, unlucky not to get 3rd, but respected team wishes Hamilton: 8 - Solid again and raced well to be in the right position to benefit from team orders Hulk: 7 - Banked some decent points, but quali needs to improve Gutierrez: 6 - Still needs to show that he can hack it with the best. Good weekend but nothing more. di Resta: 6 - Who's fault was quali? Raced well but hard to say where he would have ended up Sutil: 7 - Better qualifying but race compromised by FI technical issue Maldonado: 3 - Another bad one. Needs to sort himself out and soon Bottas: 6 - Unlucky to just miss out on points but missing out on Q2 not good Vergne: 7 - Got some points to get Torro Rosso off and running Ricciardo: 5 - Never seemed to be at the races. Pic: 6 Vab der Garde: 6 Bianchi: 7 - Not the sprakling performance as at Melbourne, but clearly shown to be the best of the back 4 Chilton: 6 - Brought it home without incident
Vettel: 7 Webber: 7 Alonso: 4 - Silly error, how much of the blame he takes for the front wing fiasco is unclear. The mass predictions of him winning look a little silly Massa: 5 - Piss poor race pace Button: 9 - Was thrashing Perez, Could have dragged the Mac onto the podium. Very strong drive, very harsh end. Perez: 6 - He was so okay he was average. Kimi: 6 - Big comedown after last week Grosjean: 7 - Decent Rosberg: 8 - Good race, Team player Hamilton: 8 -Worse than Nico, but not by enough to lose a point. Hulk: 7 - Gutierrez: 6 - Doesn't look like an f1 driver at the moment to me. di Resta: 7 - Poor qualy, race not his fault, but quicker than sutil on sunday Sutil: 6 - good qualy, was falling back even before his issue Maldonado: 2 - Another crash, 3 races in a row. Sure you've learned your lesson Pastor? Bottas: 6 - Slow in qualy but drove a good race Vergne: 7 Ricciardo: 5 Pic: 6 Vab der Garde: 6 Bianchi: 7 Chilton: 5
Vettel: 9 Webber: 9 Alonso: 5 Massa: 7 Button: 8 Perez: 6 Raikkonen: 6 Grosjean: 7 Rosberg: 8 Hamilton: 8 Hulkenberg: 8 Gutierrez: 6 Di Resta: 6 Sutil: 6 Maldonado: 3 Bottas: 6 Vergne: 7 Ricciardo: 6 Pic: 6 Van Der Garde: 6 Bianchi: 8 Chilton: 6
Vettel: 7 - Radio call aside he qualified on pole and generally did well in the race. Webber: 8 - What chris said. Alonso: 4 - Same as chris. I expect more from him too although its hard to say how much the decision to not come is down to him or the team. Disappointing. Massa: 7 - Great qualy to get on the front row then had a decent race. Button: 8 - If only McLaren hadn't messed up a pit stop and then had issues as he had good pace. Perez: 6 - Yup, pretty average. Kimi: 5 - Decidedly not as good as Melbourne. Grosjean: 7 - Much better from the Frenchman this time around. Rosberg: 8 - Really solid in both the race and qualy and deserved 3rd honestly. Respect to him for respecting his teams orders. Hamilton: 7 - Benefited from the team orders but still qualified and drove well. Hulk: 7 - Same as Chris, needs to improve in qualy but had good race pace. Gutierrez: 6 - Some life in there perhaps but was still a pretty average weekend. di Resta: 6 - Looked pretty good come race time. Shame they had issues with the car. Sutil: 6 - About the same a Di Resta. Maldonado: 3 - Just bad. Needs to sort himself out quick, I agree. Bottas: 6 - Ended up doing a decently good job to end up finishing just outside the points. Seems promising so far. Vergne: 7 - What Chris said, again. Ricciardo: 5 - Pretty decidedly average. Pic: 6 - Can't think of anything all that noteworthy. Vab der Garde: 6 - see Pic. Bianchi: 7 - Not quite as good as Melbourne but still quite good. Easily the best of the rookies/youngsters. Chilton: 6 - Decent enough job.
Vettel: 8 - Pole to winning the race. Had a lot of help to get from 2nd to 1st but nevertheless he did it. Webber: 9 - Should have won the race. Managed to get up a few places from his starting position too. Alonso: 3 - Those 3 marks are just for qualifying 3rd on the grid. His own error cost him in the race today. Massa: 6 - Should have done better from 2nd on the grid, in fact I think he should have been right up there competing for the win. Button: 8 - Getting the very best out of a below par car, would have been fighting for a podium had it not been for the car failure. Perez: 6 - Solid Drive, at least he picked up a couple of points. Kimi: 6 - Pretty poor drive, lots of errors and he even finished behind his teammate. On a positive he gained 3 places on his qualification performance. Grosjean: 8 - Much improved from Melbourne. From 11th on the grid at the start to 6th and ahead of Kimi. Not much more to say. Rosberg: 8 - Good drive, shame things turned sour in the end. Seemed like he could have gave the red bulls a run for their money if Mercedes would have let him try. Hamilton: 8 - Same as Rosberg, unfortunately he had to save fuel. Wasn't his fault Rosberg wasn't allowed past. Hulk: 8 - Not bad for his first race of the season, points on the board and moved up the grid by a few places. Gutierrez: 6 - Not a lot to say. di Resta: 7 - Poor in Quali but was making up for it in the race. Shame he there was a faulty wheel nut. Sutil: 7 - Similar to Di Resta, except Sutil had a good Qualifying sessio. Maldonado: 4 - Was only just keeping with the back of the grid teams at one point. Another race unfinished. Bottas: 7 - Had a great race but his work on Saturday was poor Vergne: 8 - A great drive and even managed to get a point from starting 18th on the grid. Ricciardo: 5 - can't remember anything noteworthy. Pic: 6 Vab der Garde: 6 Bianchi: 7 - Best of the back Chilton: 6 -
Vettel: 9 - The only mistake he made all weekend was pitting too early for his slicks. A lot of people don't like what he did but the title was decided by three points last year and 4 in 2010. You don't turn your nose up at an extra seven. Webber: 8 - Excellent start and a solid race. Had a bit of a 'mare in qualifying Alonso: 4 - One misjudgement wrecked his whole weekend. Massa: 7 - What happened to him? Seemed to lose about four places when Alonso when off. Good qualifying again and showed some strong pace to come back. Without Alonso as a benchmark it's hard to gauge where he should've finished. Button: 9 - Great performance in a crap car. Perez: 6 - Way off Button all weekend Raikkonen: 6 - Scruffy weekend, disappointing after last week Grosjean: 8 - Got caught out by the weather in Q2. Solid drive, beat Kimi despite not having the upgrades. Rosberg: 9 - I think he could have won if qualifying had stayed dry. Hamilton: 8 - Generally not as quick as Nico, but put a strong lap together in Q3 and benefitted from team orders to keep the podium. Would've challenged for the win if they'd fuelled him correctly Hulkenberg: 8 - Solid Gutierrez: 6 - Average Di Resta: 6 - Terrible yesterday but much improved today. Pulled off a good overtake on his teammate. Sutil: 6 - Opposite of di Resta, good in quali, not quite there in the race Maldonado: 1 - All over the place Bottas: 6 - Been a bit disappointed with him so far Vergne: 8 - Excellent result Ricciardo: 6 - No idea what happened to him Pic: 7 - erm... Van Der Garde: 6 - Better than last week Bianchi: 9 - Class of the backmarkers again Chilton: 5 - The British Karthikeyan, miles off his teammate again
Vettel: 8 - Ignoring what went on at the end he had a solid if not brilliant race, but going against team orders.... Webber: 8 - unfortunate in quali and put in a good recovery drive Alonso: 4 - Seemed 2nd to Massa all weekend except for 1 corner, which was followed by another where it went wrong. Massa: 6 - Went downhill after Saturday Button: 9 - My driver of the day, really good drive which given the race went unnoticed. Perez: 6 - did ok, may deserve a 7 Kimi: 5 - Poor all weekend really Grosjean: 7 - All in all he should be happy with his weekend Rosberg: 8 - Solid performance, unlucky not to get 3rd, but respected team wishes. Full respect to Nico Hamilton: 8 - Good quali and a good race. Was both fortunate the team protected him and unfortunate that the team put him in that situation. Hulk: 7 - Sunday fixed his quali Gutierrez: 6 - He's getting there slowly di Resta: 7 - Despite forum opinion he seemed faster that Sutil today Sutil: 6 - Bit of a let down really, team didn't help Maldonado: 2 - Bad! Bottas: 6 - I believe Bottas has a lot more to give Vergne: 7 - very solid today Ricciardo: 5 - All over the shop tbh Pic: 6 - Ok? Vab der Garde: 6 - better? Bianchi: 7 - Still the class of the back 4, but is that much these days? Chilton: 6 - Much better, but still must improve.
Vettel: 7 - A mark off for obvious reasons Webber: 8 - Great start and drove an excellent race. As ASC says, deserved better. Alonso: 4 - An uncharacteristically bad weekend Massa: 7 - Blew hot and cold but pretty good overall. Button: 8 - After all the gloom and doom from McLaren, the surprise of the weekend. Perez: 6 - Overall, pretty mediocre. Kimi: 6 - Fun to watch at times but I think we all expected better Grosjean: 7 - Better. Showed some real fight. Rosberg: 8 - Very encouraging. Had the edge over Lewis in 2nd half of race but how much was Lewis handicapped? Hamilton: 8 - Had the edge over Nico for most of the weekend but I think it's fair to give them the same overall. Hulk: 7 - A better quali and he could have had 10 points but great to watch: a typically tenacious drive. Gutierrez: 6 - Better than Melbourne but lost a place to Bottas near the end. di Resta: 6 - Lousy quali but looked to be on for a better race. Sutil: 7 - Much better qualifying, shafted by team spoilt the race. Maldonado: 3 - Otra vez, Pastor. ¿Qué pasó? Bottas: 6 - Bad quali, but improved as race went on. Hard to say more as I didn't really see him! Vergne: 7 - A solid drive from JEV. Ricciardo: 5 - What was going on there? Pic: 7 From what I saw, both Caterham drivers put in better drives. Van der Garde: 7 '' '' Bianchi: 8 - Out-shone his ****mobile again Chilton: 5 - Last of the minnows
Redbull Vettel: 9 - Ignoring the wrongs or rights of the incident later on in the race, purely based on how he drove the RB, Pole and Win, had he got the fastest lap too that would have been near perfection. Webber: 8 - Poor timing/judgement in qualifying, but good start and raced great. Ferrari Alonso: 4 - Team may have made a mistake not calling him in, but he was the one that hit Vettel, in what maybe a tight championship, you can't throw away any points. Massa: 6 - Good qualifying, average race. McLaren Button: 9 - For me, star drive of the day, showed great pace, "could" have been mixing it with the Merc's were it not for the pit stop issue. Perez: 6 - Average qualifying, average race, average mark! Lotus Kimi: 6 - Where did the pace go? hope it was a blip, bit like Perez, average all round. Grosjean: 7 - Did well in the race, better than Kimi hence the slightly better mark. Mercedes Rosberg: 8 - Very solid race weekend, did his reputation no harm with following team orders too. Hamilton: 8 - Quicker (just) than his teammate, then got hampered by team misjudging the fuel required for the race, which bought Nico back into play, with the right amount of fuel could have pushed the RBs further.. who knows? Sauber Hulk: 7 - Very solid race weekend! Gutierrez: 6 - Slow burner but for some reason, don't know why, think this lad will come good.. Force India di Resta: 7 - Gonna give PDR the benefit of the doubt and put the blame on the team for calling him in during Q2, race pace was great, you did lad! Sutil: 7 - Team cost themselves a bag full of points here, was racing very well. Williams Maldonado: 3 - He is still mourning the late president? Bottas: 6 - Reasonable Torro Rosso Vergne: 7 - Poor qualifying but much better race. Ricciardo: 5 - Hampered again by a cracked exhaust in the race? Didn't get to see much coverage of the back markers, so will award all but Jules 6/10 Caterham Pic: 6 Van der Garde: 6 Marussia Bianchi: 7 - He'll be driving a much better car in 2014, lad is special. Chilton: 6
Vettel: 5 - Fast driver, disgusting behaviour Webber: 9 - Great start, strong race pace but robbed at the end. Alonso: 5 - Fighting with Webber on the first lap was impressive but his mistake cost him at least 15 points if not more Massa: 6 - Far too slow in the first two stints then matched the leaders. Not sure what was going on but he needs to be consistent. Button: 10 - Excellent Perez: 6 - Looked like a solid performance...until you compare it to Button Raikkonen: 6 - I expected much better from him Grosjean: 7 - An extra point for beating Kimi but why were Lotus so slow? Rosberg: 8 - Did well Hamilton: 8 - Also did well Hulkenberg: 9 - I think he was out of position considering his car. Very good driving. Gutierrez: 5 - Last of the midfield cars. Not good. Di Resta: 8 - Unlucky but good pace Sutil: 7 - Outperformed by his teammate and also unlucky Maldonado: 1 - Too often in the gravel and could only match Bianchi's pace. Awful. Bottas: 8 - Easily thrashed his teammate and almost scored a point, which is impressive considering his car Vergne: 7 - Solid race but a bit lucky with all the retirements Ricciardo: 6 - Anonymous in the race Pic: 7 - At least he beat his teammate Van Der Garde: 6 - At least he beat Chilton Bianchi: 9 - Excellent driving to match Maldonado's laptimes, a bit too cautious at the start though. Chilton: 5 - I think it's obvious that Marussia are quicker than Caterham. With that said, how embarrassing to get beaten by VDG and Pic.
[h=2]Vettel: 8 - driving wise but Attitude wise was a 0 Webber: 8 - Just as good as Vettel even got away from him at 1 point. Alonso: 6 - a weekend to forget Massa: 7 - Good in Qualifying but average in race Button: 8 - Got stitched up by his team again after a great race Perez: 6 - So so Kimi: 6 - hampered by cruel grid drop was a bit scrappy Grosjean: 7 - Out raced Kimi in the #2 car Rosberg: 8 - better than Hamilton and deserved 3rd more Hamilton: 7 - Got the early benifit of team orders. He used to much fuel and burnt out the tyres Hulk: 8 - Driver of the day but not a 9 Gutierrez: 4 - Didnt see much of him di Resta: 3 - a big fail of a weekend Sutil: 6 - did more than PDR Maldonado: 3 - Another Bottas: 6 - He is getting settled in now Vergne: 7 - got points Ricciardo: 5 - more bad luck Pic: 7 - good fight with Bianchi Vab der Garde: 6 - a better race Bianchi: 8 - his 13th place may have been overlooked Chilton: 5 - he wasnt too bad but worst of the bottom 4 [/h]
Vettel: 8 Webber: 9 Alonso: 5 Massa: 6 Button: 9 Perez: 7 Raikkonen: 6 Grosjean: 8 Rosberg: 9 Hamilton: 8 Hulkenberg: 7 Gutierrez: 6 Di Resta: 6 Sutil: 7 Maldonado: 2 Bottas: 6 Vergne: 7 Ricciardo: 6 Pic: 6 Van Der Garde: 6 Bianchi: 8 Chilton: 5
Vettel: 8 - Right tyres at the right time for pole and was always there in the race al though hindered by the early decission to switch to slicks. Webber: 8 - Better qualifying and ran a solid race although rarely under pressure, except for "Fingergate" Alonso: 5 - Outpaced by Massa, mistake on first lap and should have pitted to replace front wing. Massa: 6 - Front row start, faded badly in the race and flattered by retirment of Button and the FI's. Button: 9 - Much better, Hung onto the leading drivesr and with 1 less stop and his fastest lap time would indicate that he had the pace to challenge for a podium. Perez: 5 - Outpaced in Quali and racing for tail end points whilst his team mate was in touch with the leaders. Kimi: Poor: 5 Quali, Penalty and a race littered with errors, probably wouldnt have scored points if the FI's and Button hadnt retired. Grosjean: 6 - Better after Melbourne and finished ahead of error-prone Kimi but nothing great. Roseberg: 8 - Solid performance, unlucky not to get 3rd and could have pushed the Red Bulls at the end. Humble and respectful! Hamilton: 7 - Solid again but pushing the redbulls for pace and having to conserve fuel from mid race was not a good strategy. Mature response to press! Hulk: 8 - Banked some decent points, but quali needs to improve Gutierrez: 6 - Still needs to show that he can hack it with the best. Good weekend but nothing more. di Resta: 5 - Who's fault was quali? Cleary had a very quick car, raced well but hard to say where he would have ended up Sutil: 6 - Better qualifying but as above. Maldonado: 3 - Another bad one. Needs to sort himself out and soon Bottas: 6 - Unlucky to just miss out on points but missing out on Q2 not good Vergne: 7 - Got some points to get Torro Rosso off and running Ricciardo: 5 - Never seemed to be at the races. Pic: 6 Vab der Garde: 6 Bianchi: 7 - Not the sprakling performance as at Melbourne, but clearly shown to be the best of the back 4 Chilton: 5 - Brought it home without incident but slow. Seems out of his depth against teammate.
Vettel: 6 for his Superb pole position. Unfortunately, his actions on track have left the the team with a considerable headache. Webber: 8. Did everything necessary to win. 'Everything', that is, other than ruthlessly defend against a wayward team mate! Low on fuel, he 'knew' from radio calls that Vettel would hold station. One can understand confusion and anger when this proved not to be the case, and he defended with spirit; but with fuel and tyres becoming critical, he was not as willing – as his team mate – to risk a disaster for the team through a selfish, perhaps even childish tooth and nail fight all the way to the finish. I should add that in awarding Webber a higher mark than the eventual winner, I am neither condoning nor criticising feeble, team orders. Sometimes they make sense. Sometimes they don't. But with the team already assured of maximum points so long as they could avoid a silly, unnecessary and potentially disastrous fight, it surely made sense this time – at least, from a team perspective! Alonso: 3. Outpaced and out-qualified by his team mate before making an uncharacteristic 'close combat' error. At the time, I was amazed that he did not pit at the first opportunity (regardless of who made the call). Of course, hindsight makes this all too easy to say. Massa: 7. Quick all weekend but will have been slightly disappointed with the icing on his cake: the race itself! Button: 9. Would have liked to award 8.7 but this is against the rules (quite reasonably). He, Rosberg (and Bianchi from the rookies) were the top performers, in my opinion. Perez: 6. A reasonable performance but outpaced all the way by his team mate. Räikkönen: 5. Lots of little errors and therefore not quite as high a mark as Perez. Grosjean: 7. Solid. Kept out of trouble but was thoroughly racier than during the season opener. Rosberg: 8. In a sense, his drive was heroic. Would have liked to give higher but he'll have been slightly disappointed with qualifying, relative to Hamilton. Very respectful 'team-player', for which, if there were a specific award, I'd have awarded a 10! Hamilton: 8. Still getting to grips with a car far from his liking, he'll have been relieved not to have had to fight Rosberg for the podium. Hulkenberg: 7. Disappointing qualifying but a decent performance in the race. Gutierrez: 6. Would have liked to give 7 because let's not forget: he's still a rookie. Hulkenberg was about 10% better though, hence the difference between them. di Resta: 7. Both Force India drivers were completely undone by their team but di Resta was showing better than Sutil this time. Sutil: 6. As above. Maldonado: 2. In view of his previous race, this was little short of an appalling repeat. After last time, I said he needs to up his game – but he didn't… Bottas: 7. Raced well but perhaps that car should be qualifying higher? Almost gave him 6 but this is racing at the top and he's a rookie. Vergne: 7. Tempted to give 8 but not as good as the eights above. Nonetheless, this rookie [edit: see below for memory lapse and thanks to AG!] has bagged the team's first points! Ricciardo: 5. Almost a 4. Will have been disappointed with being out-performed by his team-mate, as well as his lacklustre race. Pic: 6. I admit to being focussed on what was happening at the sharp end of the race but he and his team mate appeared to be doing as much as might be expected. Van der Garde: 6. As above. Bianchi: 7. Another good drive, though perhaps not quite as startling as his Melbourne début. This rookie appears to be well on his way to graduating top of his intake! Chilton: 6. Almost gave 5 but he did OK and he's a rookie. He's also up against someone who has the hallmarks required to join the élite club of 'truly exceptional rookies'!
Just testing!*… * Well, at least I think I said I'd had a hectic week somewhere or other. [scratches head thinking "he still seems like a rookie to me"; but realises no excuse will see me out of this one! Cheers, AG.]
