The Bahrain GP driver ratings

The highest compliment you can pay Lewis Hamilton is that he made his Bahrain GP victory, the third of his increasingly serene title defence, look rather easy.

No win at this level ever is of course, but the fact the world champion left his duelling title rivals in his wake to the point where, as far as the TV pictures would have you believe, he became a bit-part-player in a race that in reality he controlled from start to finish, underlined how emphatic his third win of 2015 was. He may have won by ‘only’ three seconds in the end, but the timesheet might as well have been a desert mirage.

Team-mate Nico Rosberg set the Friday pace, but once the business end of the weekend arrived it was Hamilton who again held a clear edge, with his Q2 and Q3 laps as spellbinding as anything we’ve seen from the world champion in these opening four flyaways. He will begin the European season with a title lead in excess of a race victory so no wonder he says he’s “gunning” for that British record-equalling third world crown. Catch him if you can…
Rating out of ten: 9

Is the Iceman back? Producing the finest performance of his second Ferrari stint, Kimi Raikkonen sparkled under the floodlights in Bahrain as he took the fight to Mercedes - although he loses a point for another qualifying disappointment. He grabbed third place at the start with an opportunistic move as Nico Rosberg diced with Sebastian Vettel, proving his racer instincts remain as sharp as ever.

In truth, Ferrari didn’t have the outright pace to match the Mercedes during the race, as illustrated by how easily Rosberg retook third before also passing the second scarlet car of Vettel. But that only made Raikkonen’s middle stint all the more remarkable. On the medium compound tyre, the Finn matched and indeed bettered the frontrunners on the softs, leaving him free to run the quicker rubber in the final stint. His pace had Mercedes worried as he reeled both drivers in by a second per lap.

From a man who appeared to have lost interest in 2014, the fire seems to have been reignited in the Finn’s belly. On this form, the notion of Raikkonen being a subservient number two to Vettel can be firmly put to bed.
Rating out of ten: 8

Given he arrived in the Sakir paddock on Thursday to what Sky F1’s Martin Brundle likened to a “lynch mob” after the events of China, Nico Rosberg has to be given credit for getting his head down and delivering by far his most eye-catching performance to date in 2015. With two poles in the previous two years at Sakhir, the German’s pacesetting form on Friday may have given him hope that he could take the fight to Hamilton just like last year, however in qualifying the so-called ‘thinking man’s driver’ appeared to out-think himself as his ploy of going easy on his tyres in Q2 backfired.

With yet more media criticism ringing in his ears, a good getaway at the lights from third on the grid on Sunday then came to nothing when he lost out to the Ferraris at Turn One. However, Rosberg impressively rallied from there and, producing the kind of incisive overtaking moves he could have done with to beat Hamilton here in 2014, he passed Raikkonen and then Vettel with the minimum of fuss. He then cancelled out Ferrari's undercut by then passing the German twice more. Whether or not the marauding Raikkonen would have got him over the final two laps had Rosberg’s brakes not given out is a moot point, but the late disappointment couldn’t mask a fine drive from the German. It will certainly do his damaged creditability a lot of good as continues his quest to find a way past Hamilton.
Rating out of ten: 8

Valtteri Bottas admitted that “there wasn’t much happening” for most of his race, but he found himself in fourth at the chequered flag to record his best result of the season. A masterful defensive drive saw the Finn fend off the recovering Sebastian Vettel in a much quicker Ferrari in the closing phase of the race to end the first flyaway segment of the season on somewhat of a high.

It was a far from spectacular drive from the Williams driver, but he arguably extracted the maximum out of his car with the FW37 not a fast enough package to be a podium contender unless rivals run into trouble. Pain-free from his back injury for the first time this season, Bottas looked much more like the driver who impressed during his first two years in the sport.
Rating out of ten: 7.5

Having been described by fellow front-row starter Lewis Hamilton ahead of the race as his biggest threat for victory, Sebastian Vettel returned to the bad-old ways of 2014 in a messy Sunday at Sakhir. Two unforced errors, both when the German inexplicably ran wide under braking, were followed by forced mistake entering the pit-straight when Rosberg was right on his tail for the umpteenth time, an off-course moment which broke the front-wing on his Ferrari.

The unscheduled stop for repairs dropped Vettel behind the Williams of Valtteri Bottas, and although he had a number of laps to try and pass him, one failed attempt when he locked his front wheels summed up a disappointing day. And, if he didn't know it already, his good friend Kimi showed conclusively that he's ready to give him a run for his money this year.
Rating out of ten: 5

There may have been a smoky end to the race for Daniel Ricciardo as he coasted across the finish line, but it was an impressive drive from the Australian. With an underpowered Renault engine in the rear of his Red Bull – that had been turned down further due to unreliability worries – Ricciardo should have been easy pickings for the Mercedes-powered Lotus and Force India cars in close attendance.

However, in a quiet race Ricciardo showed impressive pace in the Red Bull - sometimes even matching leading pace -and he brought the car home just 17.7 seconds behind former team-mate Sebastian Vettel. It was arguably a better result than the car deserved as he reaffirmed his credentials as a top F1 driver.
Rating out of ten: 7

Following his near-year-long wait for a points finish, Romain Grosjean and Lotus’ season is starting to come together nicely now after the Frenchman doubled up on seven places in the China/Bahrain double header. Like Daniel Ricciardo, Grosjean spent much of the 57 laps in splendid isolation with the difference between both the car ahead and behind him 18 seconds at the chequered flag.

With Pastor Maldonado having led the way through practice, only to succumb to engine problems in Q1, Grosjean admitted he was surprised to make Q3, even if once he actually got there he was left slightly disappointed with 10th on the grid. He certainly made up for that in the start as a kerb-hugging line through Turn One allowed him to jump ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz. Ending the opening corners in seventh place, he comfortably retained the position all the way through the race.
Rating out of ten: 7

Eleventh to eighth was made possible by a two-stop strategy for Sergio Perez which he says the team never thought would work. While team-mate Nico Hulkenberg complained about slithering off the track with both understeer and oversteer, the Mexican was able to make his tyres last with two impressive 20-lap stints during the race.

Such are Force India’s current struggles that Perez told Sky Sports F1 after the race that his eighth place felt better than his Bahrain podium in 2014. That tells you a lot about his drive.
Rating out of ten: 7.5

If anyone needed a solid, error-free Sunday then it was Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat, who put the frustration of dropping out in Q1 behind him to come through from 17th to ninth. Progress wasn’t particularly rapid initially as although he overtook Pastor Maldonado on the first lap, the Lotus took him straight back at the start of the second tour. From there though Kvyat’s race steadily gathered momentum and he finished six seconds ahead of Felipe Massa’s Williams, who started a little further back from the pitlane.

While Kvyat has hardly set the world on fire since his winter promotion from Toro Rosso, in mitigation the 20-year-old has had to put up with a succession of technical faults on his RB11, meaning his season hasn’t gained any kind of momentum. The F1 paddock is an unforgiving place mind you and with the youngster insisting on Saturday night that we hadn’t seen the best of him by a long shot in 2015, the start of the European season will be when he must start delivering.
Rating out of ten: 6

Problems on the grid relegated Felipe Massa to the pitlane for the start of the race, but a fine recovery drive from the Brazilian saw him make it into the points.

After having to wait for the entire field to pass the pit exit, Massa made short work of the deficit to catch the train and passed six cars in the opening seven laps. By lap 23 he was into the top 10 and became the first of the two-stopping drivers to make his final tyre change on lap 24. That meant a mammoth 33-lap stint to finish the race, but the Brazilian couldn’t nurse his tyres during those laps as he was still passing cars.

In the end he was caught about 10 laps short by cars on fresher rubber, but it was an impressive recovery from what had threatened to be a race that ended before it began.
Rating out of ten: 6

And the rest...

Eleventh-placed Fernando Alonso could almost smell McLaren-Honda’s first point at the end of the Bahrain GP as the Spaniard finished just 3.9s behind old team-mate Felipe Massa. For a man who has finished in the points on 177 separate occasions, a 10th place would hardly have been cause of jubilant celebration, but that remains the height of McLaren’s realistic targets at the moment. Operating as the team’s lone runner for most of the weekend, it was another typically tenacious performance by the Spaniard which he headlined when he delivered the MP4-30’s first Q2 appearance. He’ll now expect far more from the season when it gets back to Europe.
Rating out of ten: 7

The rookie overtaking crown passed from Max Verstappen to Felipe Nasr in Bahrain as the Brazilian put on a show before his race was compromised by a loss of power and a slow pit-stop.

After a bit of a wild start, Nasr steadied himself to pull off some lovely late-braking moves, while his GP2 experience of competing with equal cars helped him with positioning to overtake arguably quicker machines. With his sponsor logos emblazoned across the Sauber, it is easy to label Nasr a pay driver, but these kind of performances will silence the critics.
Rating out of ten: 7

Producing a qualifying performance hailed as “outstanding” by Force India to surprisingly haul the under-developed VJM08 into Q3 and eighth on the grid, Nico Hulkenberg found himself caught between a desert rock and a hard place in the race as he slid down the field to 13th. With the German neither having the performance for an aggressive three-stop race, or a tyre preservation for a two-stop, he was bypassed by team-mate Sergio Perez in the race. “It was one big struggle for me in the race,” a disappointed Hulk said afterwards. At least his fantastic qualy lap gave him and his supporters some cheer.
Rating out of ten: 6

Another weekend where Marcus Ericcson was outperformed by his Sauber team-mate Felipe Nasr in both qualifying and the race. The Swede’s Sunday was compromised by a slow pit-stop with a faulty wheelnut leading to a 27.1 second service. Without that, Ericsson would likely have finished ahead of Nasr who was suffering power unit problems in the second Sauber, but having not been a front-running GP2 driver, his F1 pace isn’t looking any more impressive in his second season.
Rating out of ten: 5

It may be a lucky number in his part of the world, but ‘13’ has bought Pastor Maldonado no good fortune whatsoever since he adopted it at the start of last season. It finally seemed during practice that the Venezuelan, who had yet to even register a race finish in 2015, was set for a strong weekend as he led the way for Lotus. However, the only result that followed in qualifying was a surprise Q1 exit as his E23's Mercedes decided to play up.

A five-second penalty for being in the wrong place on the grid hardly boded well for a great recovery but, changing to the medium tyres early on, Maldonado did produce an impressive comeback as he came through the field to join Grosjean in the points. But, with Pastor there’s always a sting in the tail at the moment and, according to Sky F1’s Ted Kravitz's sources, it was the Venezuelan’s own mistake at his final pitstop which stalled the E23 and sent its temperatures soaring. Without that error, Lotus reckon Maldonado would have beaten his team-mate to seventh. Certainly any kind of points finish would lift the pressure on Pastor right now.
Rating out of ten: 4

Another race where Will Stevens did all that could be asked of him, beating Roberto Merhi in both qualifying and the race. This was by far his most dominant performance against the Spaniard as the Brit lapped a second faster than his team-mate on Saturday and finished over 44 seconds ahead in the race. Whereas Merhi was lapped three times by Lewis Hamilton, Stevens was lapped just twice which is another small victory in a car that would struggle to break the top five in GP2.
Rating out of ten: 7

As mentioned above, Roberto Merhi again had no answer to team-mate Will Stevens’ qualifying or race pace in Bahrain. He did run ahead in the early stage of Sunday, but his deficit to the sister Manor at the finish was rather more reflective of their respective pace. On the brighter side, it’s now three race finishes from three for the Spanish rookie in F1.
Rating out of ten: 4

After an impressive start to his F1 career it was a weekend to forget for Max Verstappen. A poor qualifying saw him finish bottom of Q2, while team-mate Carlos Sainz made a Q3 appearance. Verstappen was only running ahead of the two Manor Marussia cars when he retired from the race.
Rating out of ten: N/A

Amid all the ‘megastar in the making’ hype surrounding his team-mate, Carlos Sainz continued to prove he’s no slouch either in Bahrain and delivered a fantastic qualifying showing which saw him conclusively overshadow Max Verstappen and make Q3. Sadly for both young guns, however, Toro Rosso’s double DNF meant it was a race to file in the 'do not distrub' section of the memory banks.
Rating out of ten: N/A

The good news is Jenson Button didn’t put a foot wrong in Bahrain. The bad news is he was barely able to put a foot forward all weekend…
Rating out of ten: N/A