1 #5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:41:05.793

A+

• Not a great start compared to Mercedes but he managed to brake deep into T1 and take 2nd from Rosberg.
• A confident call by the team to stay on the medium tyre during the Safety Car and stick to their pit strategy; it proved to be the key moment for the race win. The gap to Hamilton widened as he fought with slower cars from 6th while Sebastien had a clear track ahead.
• Showed fantastic pace in hot conditions relative to Mercedes (on the mediums too!), enough to pass Rosberg at the final corner and show they deserved the win. Almost passed Hamilton on track as well, but Lewis needed entered the pits during the maneuver.
• #GetPissed

2 #44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +8.569

A-

• Stunning pole lap set early in Q3. His confidence in the car is astounding.
• Minimized time on the medium tyre by after the Safety Car was deployed. It was probably the right decision because of their tyre degradation rate relative to track temps as high as 60C(!).
• Excellent passes to move from 6th to 2nd in 5 laps.
• Confusion later in the race over which compound Lewis should be on relative to Ferrari. Hamilton must have forgotten their lack of fresh medium tyres for the race (used a set during Q1). In the end, a 3-stop strategy wasn't enough to best Ferrari.
• Frayed communication and nerves over the radio.

3 #6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes +12.310

B+

• At the start he was weak on the brakes against Vettel, despite being on the inside line for T1. Rosberg's lack of commitment to overtake is a major downside to his otherwise smooth style. The gap to Hamilton will only widen as the season progresses if he doesn't take chances.
• Good job by Mercedes to double-stack their pit-stops and service them quickly.
• Was too apprehensive to overtake Massa on the first lap of the restart. In these early laps it's imperative to get back to the front ASAP.
• On Lap 21 Rosberg asked his team "if [Vettel] goes by me, then he's won?" That seems awfully defeatist. Certainly the Ferrari had the advantage, but to basically declare the race over doesn't sit well with me.

4 #7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari +53.822

A+

• Qualifying compromised in Q2 by poor track position behind Ericsson.
• Scrappy start. He had his left-rear tyre cut down at the final corner on Lap 2 by Nasr's Sauber. Quite lucky to have the Safety Car period allow him to rejoin the back of the field.
• Poor restart due to slow traffic; "How can I pass these people because they're not even trying to catch the safety car."
• Calm and steady progress through the field. I believe Kimi felt his pace was stronger than Seb this weekend. Even after finishing 4th his demeanor appeared gloomy towards the press; in my eyes he had the 'Drive of the Day' for achieving the maximum result from a poor situation.

5 #77 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes +1:10.409

A-

• Shocking start! Went from 9th to 14th in three laps.
• Barely touched Maldonado's right-rear tyre into T1 to puncture it.
• Rallied his nerves enough to regain Williams rightful position as the third best team on pace. Incredible overtake at T5 against Verstappen.
• Made up for Malaysia 2014 when his teammate refused a team order to let him through by passing Massa at the end of the race. Another ballsy pass at T5 too!
• His medical team must work wonders after the back injury he suffered in Melbourne!

6 #19 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes +1:13.586

A-

• Good start; gained spots as the Renault powered cars fell backwards.
• Complained about a 'lack of power' on the restart; I believe he failed to recharge his ERS before the restart. Glad it wasn't a real mechanical problem!
• In 2014 Williams had speed at the high-speed tracks, used low downforce and was fuel efficient.Now their car is in a 'jack-of-all-trade, master of none' scenario. Unless theyspend money on upgrades, their team will only finish 5th or 6th (at best) for the first half of the season.

7 #33 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso-Renault +1:37.762

A+

• Equaled his father's best qualifying position at 6th; it was a whacky Q2 with the rain falling from the start of the session, but it still counts!
• Lost four places on the start.
• Made lots of good passes. Perhaps he was fired up because of the poor opening lap. He attacked hard and proved he can take positions when opportunities arise.
• Nervous moment coming to the pits for his final stop. Gathered a bit of grass.
• He's talented and fearless. Yes he's young, but if he's starting off this mature (with future allowances to make mistakes), he'll be a major force in this sport.

8 #55 Carlos Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso-Renault +1 Lap

A

• I doubt he'd claim his race was boring! There was a lot of overtaking around him with the Mercedes pair, Kimi, Williams and the battles with his Red Bull teammates.
• I believe Sainz is going to have a hard time justifying his right to be in F1 with a driver like Max Verstappen sitting on the other side of the garage. It'd be a shame if it completely overshadows Carlos' early open-wheel career because I think he is quite talented.

9 #26 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull-Renault +1 Lap

B+

• After passing a wide-running Ricciardo into T1, Kvyat slipped up the inside of Hulkenberg as well, only to get half-spun in that corner due to contact w/ the Force India. I felt it was a 50/50 'racing incident'. Credit to the sturdiness of the suspension to withstand that hit.
• An otherwise solid drive and a points scoring finish with a car suffering brake issues, straight-line speed and reliability.

10 #3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault +1 Lap

B

• Struggled mightily with his car throughout the race. So much brake dust!
• Stayed out of trouble to allow quicker cars to go through without incident.

11 #8 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Mercedes +1 Lap

B

• Overall pace seemed decent; their performance was somewhere between the Red Bull and Toro Rosso.
• Made the most of their strategy to stay out at the Safety Car period.
• Spun out by Perez which prevented him from potential points.

12 #12 Felipe Nasr Sauber-Ferrari +1 Lap

B-

• Hit the left-rear tyre of Kimi's Ferrari; that final turn was congested with cars out of position creating complex concertinas.
• Stopped to change the front-wing which greatly compromised his race.
• The Sauber just didn't look as strong here as it was in Melbourne. Their downforce and ability to follow other cars in medium speed corners looked troublesome; they might require more 'point-and-shoot' circuits.

13 #11 Sergio Pérez Force India-Mercedes +1 Lap

D-

• Due to not stopping during the Safety Car, Sergio spent most of his race looking in the mirrors.
• The car was not performing well at all. "Checo, your [tyre degradation] is still good"--"Yeah, but I'm so slow, man...it doesn't matter."
• Incident involving Romain Grosjean that resulted in a 10-second penalty. Though Sergio was on the racing line for T5, Grosjean moved ahead around the outside of the corner to execute an overtake. Perez not lifting enough to allow Grosjean a line was always going to end badly. Discretion is not one of Sergio Perez's finer qualities.

14 #27 Nico Hülkenberg Force India-Mercedes +1 Lap

B+

• Incredible start to go from 13th to 9th by T5.
• Stayed out during the Safety Car period and did well to defend against much faster cars.
• Received an unnecessary penalty for contact with Kvyat. The Red Bull driver passed his teammate into T1 and opportunistically went for more up the right-side of Hulkenberg for T2 (now on the outside of the corner). It looked to me as if Kvyat closed the door too quickly for the left-hander and didn't allow room for two side-by-side cars.
• 10-second penalty screwed up his race.

15 #98 Roberto Merhi Manor-Ferrari +3 Laps

A

• Not much to say about his driving since he was barely on TV and had such a lonely race. The main thing is thathe finished. So...success! He may not be as quick as Stevens at this point, but the team needed this valuable data.

DNF #13 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Mercedes Brakes

B

• More bad luck at the start! Tyre accidentally punctured in T1 by Bottas.
• The beginnings of his seasons are filled with DNFs. It's a shame because I believe the man can drive well.
• Wasn't on feed very much, but spent a lot of time behind McLaren. I can only assume his car had damage.

DNF #22 Jenson Button McLaren-Honda Turbo

B+

• An encouraging progression of pace from the McLaren, a car that was far off the pack just two weeks ago in Australia.
• Out-qualified Alonso on their first head-to-head race.
• Early retirement due to engine/turbo issues

DNF #55 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda Power Unit

B

• Poor Alonso. Even with the slipstream & DRS behind other cars he lost ground.
• Glad to see him back and driving well after the bizarre events of the Barcelona winter testing.
• Like Button, had to make an early retirement from the race due to the new Honda motor.
• I don't know how many times he'll have to tell the press that he loves the challenge of possibly taking McLaren from the bottom of the time sheets to the top.

DNF #9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari Spun Off

D

• Aggressive start, moved Verstappen off of the circuit at T4.
• Perhaps he misjudged the braking point for T1 while attempting a DRS pass on Hulkenberg. Makes a correction to steer away from Nico that sends him too wide on entry and into the gravel. I was surprised the marshals didn't deem it a 'dangerous position' and push him ala Michael Schumacher at the 2003 European Grand Prix. This brings out the Safety Car and changes the complexion of the race.

DNP #28 Will Stevens Manor-Ferrari DNP

No grade

• Fuel system problem prevented him from taking to the grid.

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