Australian GP driver ratings

Strange to hear Lewis Hamilton admit that he required the ‘reassurance’ of his victory in Melbourne given that a flicker of self-doubt hadn't been apparent in the world champion’s performance at any point over the weekend. Turning the tide in Practice Three after being narrowly out-paced by Nico Rosberg in Friday’s warm-up acts, Hamilton’s pole position effort was the lap of the weekend, a mesmerising charge which his team-mate called "awesome". It was also the decisive act behind his victory, providing the Englishman with the solid platform from which to deliver a masterclass of frontrunning driving to secure his seventh win in eight races and the perfect start to 2015.
Rating out of ten: 9

On paper, the Australian GP was a closely-fought affair with Nico Rosberg just 1.3 seconds behind Hamilton when the chequered flag fell. In reality, as Rosberg subsequently acknowledged, Hamilton was in cruise control and never really under threat. "Lewis didn’t make any mistakes and it wasn’t possible to get any closer,” the German admitted. Despite hour after hour in Mercedes' race simulator over the winter, Rosberg still appears bereft of a method with which to beat his team-mate in a straight fight - making his subdued defeat in Melbourne all the more disappointing. But give Nico's sportsmanship the credit it deserves. "Lewis did a fantastic job," he graciously acknowledged on the podium. "He drove like a world champion all weekend." 
Rating out of ten: 7



A tad lucky at the start, when he bounced over the kerb and triggered carnage behind him, but all's well that ends well and Sebastian Vettel's clinched-fist celebration as he returned to Parc Ferme after the race said it all. For Ferrari and their new recruit, third place was as good as a victory. The only dispute is about who would have been more relieved: Ferrari, after only their third podium since November 2013, or Vettel with the instant validation of his decision to abandon the family nest at Red Bull for Ferrari. A driver who was purportedly considering quitting F1 last year has his mojo back.
Rating out of ten: 8

A solid points for Felipe Massa haul from a solid performance. But no more than that.

Massa blamed “losing a second-and-a-half behind Daniel Ricciardo on my out-lap” for the loss of third position to Vettel but, as Williams chief Pat Symonds acknowledged afterwards, Ferrari had the faster package this weekend. Although he was disappointed to have finished fourth, Massa would surely have struggled to rebuff the advances of Kimi Raikkonen but for the Finn’s costly first-lap aggravation and the impression throughout was that Williams were missing the muscular aggression of Valtteri Bottas.
Rating out of ten: 6

The star of the race, Felipe Nasr’s performance was the unexpected delight of a largely unmemorable grand prix as he collected fifth place for a team which didn't score a point in the whole of 2014.

Unfazed either by his debut or the off-track politicking which debased Sauber’s reputation at the start of the weekend, Nasr didn't put a wheel off line as he beat Daniel Ricciardo to fifth. Sauber’s description of his performance as “an outstanding achievement” was entirely justified. It’s worth noting, too, that in qualifying he was nearly a second faster than Sauber team-mate Marcus Ericsson. Quite what Jolyon Palmer, who beat Nasr to the GP2 title last year, made of his former foe’s performance is anyone’s guess.
Rating out of ten: 9

How the mighty have fallen. Daniel Ricciardo’s plucky efforts in qualifying and the race cannot disguise that this was an anguished weekend for the Red Bull team. Incredibly, Renault seem even further behind their power-supplier rivals than they were a year ago, rendering Ricciardo’s best efforts in front of his home crowd largely peripheral. A shame, because there’s a great driver waiting to burst into the limelight. 
Rating out of ten: 8

Fortune tends to favour the brave and sometimes it even doffs a cap in the direction of a trier, too. Eighty seconds off the pace even before the first round of pit-stops, Nico Hulkenberg and Force India's seventh place was ultimately the consequence of the bad luck which occured elsewhere. But nobody could begrudge the model professional of the grid that rarest of bonuses in his career: slightly more than he deserved.
Rating out of ten: 7

Credit Sauber for their smart strategy calls during Sunday’s race, including a first-lap pit-stop under the Safety Car for a new set of soft tyres, that helped propel Marcus Ericsson into the points and credit the young Swede for his late move on Carlos Sainz to grab eighth. But Ericsson paled in comparison with the debutant Nasr and the jury remains out on whether he has the requisite pace for F1.
Rating out of ten: 7

A points-scoring debut in F1 is no trifling achievement and Carlos Sainz’s ninth place will have silenced the sceptics - for now at least. Over the course of the weekend, however, there were plenty of scruffy moments from the young Spaniard.
Rating out of ten: 6

Sergio Perez would be well advised to consider a flutter on the lottery this week. Despite making a hash of overtaking the mobile chicane that goes by the name of a McLaren-Honda, and despite being half a minute down on team-mate Hulkenberg, the Mexican somehow found himself in the points at the end of the race.
Rating out of ten: 6

And the rest...

How low have McLaren fallen? So low that Jenson Button felt moved to describe Sunday's race as an enjoyable experience after finishing eleventh of the eleven runners who made it to the finishing line. In the context of the team's winter, in which they had previously failed to complete anything longer than a 12-lap stint, reaching the chequered flag was a giant step forward. But the fact that Button was twice lapped by the Mercedes car which out-paced the MP4-30 by five seconds in qualifying underlines just how far behind McLaren currently are.
Rating out of ten: 7

Not a day to remember for Kimi Raikkonen. On the back foot after he was given a shove into the second corner, the Finn was on the road to recovery before a malfunctioning pit-stop forced him to retire. “It’s simply that, today, everything happened to me,” bemoaned Kimi. True, but Raikkonen was also the architect of his own downfall with the mistake in qualifying which cost him third on the grid. But for that...
Rating out of ten: 6

So near and yet so far for Max Verstappen. Already the youngest driver ever to start a grand prix, the Dutch teenager was well on course to become the youngest points scorer in the sport’s history before his Toro Rosso developed a fever with twenty laps remaining. Still, even if the youngster won’t be leaving Australia with any tangible points, he can at least take the consolation of knowing that he proved a point in Melbourne.
Rating out of ten: 7

On a wretched day for the Lotus team, who must have fancied their chances of beating Red Bull and starting the season as the fourth-fastest outfit on the grid, neither Romain Grosjean nor Pastor Maldonado made it past the first lap. Grosjean can at least take solace in out-qualifying his team-mate, but for Maldonado there was just another accident to add to the list - albeit on this occasion in entirely blameless circumstances.
Rating out of ten: N/A

Poor Kevin Magnussen must have wondered why he bothered making the trip to Melbourne. After a crash in practice restricted him to just eleven laps on Friday, he failed to make it past Q1 on Saturday and then had to park up his car on the formation lap of Sunday’s race. Still, the air miles might come in handy one day. 
Rating out of ten: N/A

His participation wasn't as limited as Magnussen's, but Daniil Kvyat is still technically awaiting his Red Bull debut after failing to start the Australian GP due to a broken gearbox. Judging by their comparative results in practice and qualifying, however, the Russian may be in for a tough time against Ricciardo - the Aussie was over half a second quicker in Saturday's head-to-head.
Rating out of ten: N/A

One of three drivers who didn't make it to the starting grid on race day, Valtteri Bottas did not feature due to a back injury. Williams missed him. And so did the spectacle.
Rating out of ten: N/A

The Midweek Report returns at 8.30pm on Sky Sports F1 on Wednesday with Mike Gascoyne and David Brabham joining Natalie Pinkham in the studio to analyse events in Melbourne.