AUTOSPORT's Belgian GP driver ratings

1SEBASTIAN VETTEL

Red Bull-Renault RB10

Start: 3rd
Finish: 5th
Strategy: 3 stops (soft/soft/medium/soft)

Rating: 7

His pace compared well to Ricciardo during practice and qualifying, but after a bold attempt to take the lead on the first lap, Vettel's race unravelled thanks first to the mistake at Pouhon that allowed Ricciardo past and then proving unable to do a two-stopper.

Not bad, but wouldn't quite match his team-mate's polished race performance.

3 DANIEL RICCIARDO
Red Bull-Renault RB10

Start: 5th
Finish: 1st
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/soft/medium)

Rating: 9

Another classy race performance from Ricciardo, who was typically unflappable and never looked like letting slip his shot at a third win of the season.

Qualifying was less impressive, with an error on his final lap potentially costing him third on the grid. But as usual, that's a relatively small criticism of another convincing weekend.

6 NICO ROSBERG
Mercedes F1 W05

Start: 1st
Finish: 2nd
Strategy: 3 stops (soft/medium/medium/soft)

Rating: 6

Rosberg was not as impressive as Hamilton on Friday, but his practice three pace suggested he could be a pole threat before he drove well in qualifying to put in two laps good enough for pole.

Could, and should, have avoided the clash with Hamilton and even after losing time with a nose change, arguably should still have won but for getting bogged down with Vettel and Bottas in his second stint.

44 LEWIS HAMILTON
Mercedes F1 W05

Start: 2nd
Finish: DNF
Strategy: retired (soft/medium/soft/medium/retired)

Rating: 8

Even with his glazed brake, Hamilton probably could have outqualified Rosberg as he was up on his final lap before a lock-up into Stavelot.

Did what he needed to at the start, taking the lead and keeping Vettel at bay before the infamous collision with Rosberg.

Down on downforce, he was on a hiding to nothing before eventually retiring but prior to the collision, Hamilton did a lot right.

7 KIMI RAIKKONEN
Ferrari F14 T

Start: 8th
Finish: 4th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/soft/medium)

Rating: 9

While his Q3 performance was, by his own admission, very scrappy with a few mistakes leaving him a second off Alonso, Raikkonen had a good race.

Kept out of trouble on Sunday, gaining track position with an early first stop and doing an excellent job.

Considering qualifying went badly, race was as good as it could have been.

14 FERNANDO ALONSO
Ferrari F14 T

Start: 4th
Finish: 7th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/soft/medium)

Rating: 7

Alonso was spectacularly committed from the start of Friday practice and while he perhaps could have been one place further up the grid, he still put the car higher than expected.

His race was compromised a little by the five-second penalty for his mechanics staying on the grid too long as they rectified a starter issue, but while there were some spectacular passes, there were also times when Alonso put himself in difficult positions in battle, culminating in the last-lap wing damage in a brush with Vettel. This was self-defeating.

8 ROMAIN GROSJEAN
Lotus-Renault E22

Start: 15th
Finish: DNF
Strategy: retired (soft/medium/soft/soft/retired)

Rating: 7

It was the same old story for Grosjean and Lotus. He did what he could in qualifying, again beating Maldonado, but his race was compromised by front wing damage at the first hairpin, an incident that, unlike 2012, was not his fault.

Drove as well as could be expected in the race before, predictably, his car let him down.

13 PASTOR MALDONADO
Lotus-Renault E22

Start: 17th
Finish: DNF
Strategy: retired (soft/retired)

Rating: 3

Maldonado should have realised that it was going to be one of those weekends when he needlessly drifted onto the grass and speared his Lotus into the wall on the run to Pouhon on Friday. Should have made Q2, but a spin in Q1 and a mediocre final lap cost him. An exhaust problem meant he had no chance to make amends on Sunday.

20 KEVIN MAGNUSSEN
McLaren-Mercedes MP4-29

Start: 7th
Finish: 12th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/soft/medium)

Rating: 8

Showed very well in qualifying, stringing together a lap good enough for seventh while his team-mate made an error.

Drove an attacking race to finish sixth on the road, but unfortunately it was a little too aggressive, leading to him being penalised.

No points, and he did overstep the mark, but crucially Magnussen beat Button both in qualifying and on-the-road in the race.

22 JENSON BUTTON
McLaren-Mercedes MP4-29

Start: 10th
Finish: 6th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/soft/medium)

Rating: 7

Button had only one lap on fresh rubber in Q3 and made a costly mistake at Les Combes, leaving him 10th.

But he drove a fine race, combining consistent good pace with good racecraft, particularly in the frenetic late scrap for fifth place.

A typically accomplished weekend, but the comparison to Magnussen shows it wasn't perfect.

11 SERGIO PEREZ
Force India-Mercedes VJM07

Start: 13th
Finish: 8th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/soft/medium)

Rating: 6

Hopes were high for Force India, but Perez's eighth place was as good as it got for the Mercedes-powered team.

His qualifying performance was nothing special and he wasn't happy in the wet conditions, but he drove a clean and consistent race to take eighth place.

27 NICO HULKENBERG
Force India-Mercedes VJM07

Start: 18th
Finish: 10th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/medium/soft)

Rating: 5

While staying out on the same set of intermediates in Q1, and a strange braking feel, didn't help Hulkenberg, had he been more conservative into the chicane in his late laps he would have breezed through to the next segment.

He carried that disadvantage into the race, struggled to show his pace in traffic and needed Magnussen's penalty to score.

21 ESTEBAN GUTIERREZ
Sauber-Ferrari C33

Start: 20th
Finish: 15th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/soft/medium)

Rating: 6

Gutierrez's Sauber was plagued by problems all weekend, restricting him to just 26 laps over Friday and Saturday, with the car shutting down in qualifying before he could switch to intermediates.

He brought it home just behind Sutil, which was about all that could be expected.

99 ADRIAN SUTIL
Sauber-Ferrari C33

Start: 14th
Finish: 14th
Strategy: 3 stops (medium/soft/soft/soft)

Rating: 6

The Sauber has improved, but not to the point where it can be a threat at power-hungry Spa. There was probably an opportunity to do a little better in wet qualifying even with a dry set-up, but in the race the car just didn't have the pace for Sutil to do achieve much more than his 14th place.

25 JEAN-ERIC VERGNE
Toro Rosso-Renault STR9

Start: 12th
Finish: 11th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/medium/soft)

Rating: 7

The Frenchman was shaded by Kvyat in both qualifying and the race, but it wasn't by much.

A lack of power at the start dropped him to 15th and buried him in traffic, the resulting time loss making it impossible to get a car that was just capable of scoring points into the top 10.

26 DANIIL KVYAT
Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR9

Start: 11th
Finish: 9th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/soft/medium)

Rating: 8

Although he did embarrass himself with a needless spin while gesticulating in qualifying, Kvyat otherwise put together a strong weekend.

Came very close to making Q3 in the wet, only to be bumped late on, and beat Vergne both on Saturday and Sunday to earn a couple of points.

19 FELIPE MASSA
Williams-Mercedes FW36

Start: 9th
Finish: 13th
Strategy: 3 stops (soft/medium/soft/soft)

Rating: 5

Fundamentally, Massa had decent pace, but a glazed brake in Q3 cost him.

His race looked poor, but that was largely down to picking up debris from Hamilton's puncture, which Williams needed to pitstops to clear.

Frustratingly, Massa always seems to find some way for things to go wrong.

77 VALTTERI BOTTAS
Williams-Renault FW36

Start: 6th
Finish: 3rd
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/soft/medium)

Rating: 8

While qualifying wasn't perfect, Bottas drove superbly in the race to climb from sixth on the first lap to another podium finish.

Showed excellent racecraft, combining knowing when to attack with a great pass on Vettel and never allowed himself to get over-excited.

4 MAX CHILTON
Marussia-Ferrari MR-03
Start: 19th
Finish: 16th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/medium/soft)
Rating: 5

The in-out-in farce of Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, particularly the comments released via his PR company suggesting he had stepped aside to let the team raise money by selling his seat, did Chilton little credit.

While qualifying was underwhelming, he did a good job in the race, finally winning his scrap with Ericsson with two laps to go.

17 JULES BIANCHI
Marussia-Ferrari MR-03

Start: 16th
Finish: 18th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/soft/medium)

Rating: 7

Bianchi's qualifying performance was superb, based on speed in intermediate conditions rather than good fortune.

The race was ruined by his right-rear wheel being clipped at La Source on the opening lap, giving him a puncture, but his made good progress in recovering before stopping with a small gearbox problem.

9 MARCUS ERICSSON
Caterham-Renault CT05

Start: 22nd
Finish: 17th
Strategy: 2 stops (soft/medium/soft)

Rating: 6

Ericsson was made to look poor in comparison to new team-mate Lotterer, but there are a few caveats that must be added to any assessment of his performance in qualifying as he lacked the latest-specification floor and struggled with traffic in Q1.

His race performance was decent, although he was frustrated to be passed by Chilton very late on.

45 ANDRE LOTTERER
Caterham-Renault CT05

Start: 21st
Finish: DNF
Strategy: retired (soft/retired)

Rating: 9

To put into perspective the extent to which Lotterer exceeded expectations, just remember how some mid-season stand-ins, even vastly experienced ones, have fared in recent years.

With little preparation, the Le Mans star progressed superbly through practice and qualifying.

It was just a shame that a small error, running wide over a kerb exiting Blanchimont, was possibly the cause of his car losing power on lap two.