European GP Driver Ratings

Vettel – 10

Back to his brilliant best after late Montreal error. Simply dominated the entire weekend, qualifying on pole by two-tenths and leading home Alonso in the race by over ten seconds. Looks odds on for the driver’s title.

Webber – 6

Qualified on the front row, but was again unable to get on terms with Vettel. Race long battle with Alonso ended in the Spaniard’s favour and Webber finished 3rd. Considering what Vettel was able to do in the same car, to finish behind a Ferrari has to rank as a disappointment.

Hamilton – 7

Tried hard as usual in both qualifying and the race, but unable to get on terms with the Red Bulls and even the Ferraris in qualifying. The race was compromised by poor start and the Briton’s seemingly inability to look after his tyres, and he finished a frustrated 4th.

Button – 4

Came crashing back down to earth after Montreal with an abject weekend. Qualified only 6th, and made a poor start. Passed Rosberg but then hindered by KERS problems mid-race, having made no impression on the other leading drivers even before then. Finished where he started.

Alonso – 10

A stunning performance. Took excellent 4th on grid but made average start. Outmanoeuvred Massa at first corner and eventually got the better of Webber after great pass on the Australian mid race. Definitely outperforming the car at the moment.

Massa – 7

Qualified very well, only a tenth behind Alonso in 5th. Unlucky at start – very quick off the line but in trying to pass Webber got overtaken by Alonso. Then lost significant time at his second pit stop, but still took 5th ahead of Button.

Rosberg – 7

Good weekend on a track where the order is very much dictated by car performance. Narrowly outqualified hitherto resurgent Schumacher in 7th, and finished race in the same position after brief battle with Button in early stages.

Schumacher – 5

Another driver, like Button, to suffer a poor weekend after Montreal heroics. 8th on grid was decent enough, but clumsily ran into Petrov on exiting the pits on lap 15 which necessitated a nose change. Made little progress thereafter and finished 17th.

Heidfeld – 7

Qualified 9th after not setting a Q3 time. Sluggish start put him behind Sutil, who he re-passed in some style. Sutil took the place back using DRS, and thereafter the Renault driver had to settle for single point for 10th.

Petrov – 5

Seemingly suffered same post-Montreal hangover as Button and Schumacher. 11th in qualifying was reasonable, but in tight midfield pack couldn’t make a three stop strategy work. 15th a bad result even considering that Renault appear to be dropping off the development pace.

Barrichello – 7

13th on grid, but felt he could have made Q3 in updated Williams. Drove a good race considering the still-underperforming car to take 12th place, in top half of field. Will be pleased by post-race news of Williams-Renault engine deal for 2012.

Maldonado – 5

15th on grid was acceptable, but a terrible start put him among the tailenders, and later ventured off track at the first turn. 18th at the finish after failing to get prime tyres working and consequently making three pit stops.

Sutil – 8

Probably the German’s best all-round weekend of the season. Had the measure of Di Resta in qualifying and lined up tremendous 10th. Raced well to beat Heidfeld to 9th in race, albeit behind Alguersuari’s two-stopping Toro Rosso.

Di Resta – 6

12th in qualifying was a reasonable effort. Dropped to 14th in the race after admitting he left it too late to pit on a couple of occasions. Has his home race at Silverstone to look forward to at least.

Kobayashi – 5

14th on the grid but nowhere near making Q3. Struggled to 16th in race despite pre-race confidence and usual aggressive approach. The first race where he hasn’t finished in the top 10 so far this season – an impressive stat in itself, but adds to the disappointment around this outing.

Perez – 7

Qualified 16th. His one stop strategy didn’t seem to be working, as it lost him huge chunks of time in the middle of the race, but he recovered well to finish 11th. A good effort after disappointment of missing Canada due to after-effects of Monaco crash.

Buemi – 6

17th on grid in updated Toro Rosso. I struggled to remember what he actually did in the race, which isn’t a good sign of either the race’s excitement levels or Buemi’s own performance. Finished 13th, appearently suffering more than most from tyre wear.

Alguersuari – 9

Knocked out in Q1 again so lined up 18th. Drove a great, aggressive race though, using a two-stop strategy to good effect to claim 8th place. Arguably his best ever F1 performance, which seems to have saved his seat for the rest of this season at least (with main threat Daniel Ricciardo being farmed out to HRT).

Kovalainen – 6

Led the Lotuses once again by qualifying 19th, but two seconds off making Q2. Matched qualifying result in the race and was two laps down, but was pleased with own performance and fitness levels in long, hot race.

Trulli – 5

Nondescript weekend after his return to form in Canada. Six-tenths off Kovalainen in qualifying, and finished 20th in the race, complaining again of steering issues. His Lotus seat must surely be in doubt for next season, if indeed the Italian wishes to carry on.

Glock – 6

Qualified and finished 21st - exactly where you’d expect him to be in race of no attrition. Did run ahead of the Lotuses for a while in the race, and will be heartened by news that Virgin is entering into a technical partnership with McLaren.

D’Ambrosio – 5

1.2 seconds behind Glock in qualifying, and behind the HRT of Liuzzi. Recovered somewhat in the race and at least beat the Italian home to finish not too far behind Glock. Need to work on his single-lap pace.

Liuzzi – 6

Did well to outqualify underperforming D’Ambrosio, but unable to beat the Belgian in the race due to high rear tyre wear. New team mate from Silverstone onwards (Ricciardo) may put him under pressure.

Karthikeyan – 5

Unsurprisingly last on grid. In a race notable only for the outstanding reliability of the whole field, became the first man to ever finish 24th in a Grand Prix. Not quite the way he would have hoped to go out - he is replaced by Daniel Ricciardo for the rest of the season bar India.