British GP driver ratings

A record crowd turned up at Silverstone and most would have gone home happy after Lewis Hamilton's third British GP win. Value for money for them, then, but boy he made life difficult for himself. After set-up problems through practice and into qualifying before getting it right when it mattered on Sunday, Hamilton lost out again at the lights when both Williams cars shot past. But crucially for him, Nico Rosberg also made a poor start and after getting past Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas at the first stops, Lewis effectively used them as a buttress until the rain arrived and Rosberg suddenly woke up.

In the event, the result revolved around Hamilton's decision to pit for intermediates just as Nico caught him on lap 43. According to the man himself "it wasn't luck or genius, just the right call". Shall we just settle on a gut instinct about the vagaries of the British weather? The Silverstone crowd certainly seemed to approve - and Hamilton's home win was arguably precisely the 'Feel Good story' which F1 required this weekend.
Rating out of ten: 9

If Nico Rosberg did nothing wrong at Silverstone, it could just as reasonably be argued that he didn't quite do enough to claim the win. For the second race weekend in succession, Nico neglected to grasp the initiative on his final Q3 run after his team-mate had left the door open and until his sudden surge through the rain, rounding both Williams cars in the process, he was a rather anonymous presence in the race as well.

Still, after he suddenly closed in on Hamilton and the lead of the race, it was hard not to sympathise with Rosberg over what happened next. "His speed at that point played against him," argued Sky F1's Martin Brundle. "It wouldn't have even crossed his mind to stop then." In fact, the rain was so unexpected that Rosberg admitted afterwards he was pleased to see Hamilton duck down the pitlane for a set of intermediates. Sometimes in sport you make your own luck - and this weekend, Rosberg didn't quite do enough to make it happen.
Rating out of ten: 7.5

Speaking afterwards, Sebastian Vettel - grinning as always - said he'd like to add the weather to the list of English things he likes. And the Ferrari driver has good reason to, since it was the decision to follow Hamilton into the pits just as the conditions deteriorated that led to his opportunistic third-place finish.

It was a decision that turned his weekend around, what with Ferrari off the pace and Vettel himself struggling with a poor start that dropped him from sixth on the grid to ninth in the early laps. An early pit-stop put him ahead of Daniil Kvyat's Red Bull, while another place was gained when team-mate Kimi Raikkonen elected - wrongly as it turned out - to make an early stop for intermediates. Much like Hamilton, it's difficult to explain why some drivers always seem to be in the right place at the right time - or rather make the right decision at the right time - but it didn't come as a surprise to suddenly see Vettel up there. Luck, judgement - call it what you want, but he has it.
Rating out of ten: 7

Although Williams and Felipe Massa's weekend ended, on paper at least, in credit, there can have been no sense of celebration in the garage afterwards.

While Massa bemoaned the belated call onto intermediates that came too late to prevent Vettel stealing third, the team itself had to fend off accusations they had sabotaged their own race by initially instructing Valtteri Bottas to hold station when he clearly had more pace than his team-mate. In the circumstances, even after delivering the lap of qualifying, fourth must have felt a rather hollow achievement for the veteran.
Rating out of ten: 8

So could Williams have had a better race if Valtteri Bottas had passed Massa during the early laps? The team said not and unsurprisingly Massa said the same. Even more unsurprising was Bottas's assertion that they would have. This being Bottas, his assertion didn't really seem too assertive; more a calm expression of his opinion delivered with a half-smile and a bit of a shrug. But all in all, a disappointing result for the Finn considering what might have been.

The Williams team might not have been too chuffed if Bottas had ignored them and gone for it, but one suspects the glint in Sir Frank Williams' eyes might have betrayed them. And Ferrari would probably have taken notice too, because despite what teams say when the shoe is on the other foot and they decide to impose orders, a selfish streak is the type of characteristic they actually seek out.
Rating out of ten: 7.5

After a scruffy start to his Red Bull career, Daniil Kvyat has settled down to enjoy a steady stream of tidy - and profitable - race weekends. Not only has the Russian youngster out-qualified Daniel Ricciardo for every race since Monaco, but he has also scored points in five of the last six events.

It's been a quietly impressive performance from a driver whose inexperience is easily overlooked, with sixth place this weekend at the upper limits of what was achievable from the underpowered Red Bull-Renault package. "Dany drove a great race," noted team boss Christian Horner. 
Rating out of ten: 8

So Nico Hulkenberg's good form continues with another top-ten result coming the German's way thanks to Force India’s B-spec car - and his own skill, of course. Running fifth in the early laps after a start he described as "sensational", the cork then went back in the bottle as his presence allowed the Williams and Mercedes cars to pull clear of the rest.

The Hulk eventually had to settle for seventh after switching to intermediates too late but it's another timely result for the Le Mans winner, who will no doubt continue to imitate Alastair Cook by meeting speculation about his future - Ferrari and Williams are the names being bandied about - with a dogged straight bat.
Rating out of ten: 8.5

For Kimi Raikkonen in 2015, it never rains but it pours. Ironically, the problem for Raikkonen this Sunday was that it didn't rain hard enough or early enough, rendering his decision - one of only four made by the entire field - to stop for intermediate tyres during the first but short-lived race shower a calamitous own-goal. "The strategy guys do a wonderful job, but when it rains, it's the driver who has the final call to the pits. In the case of Kimi, whose strategy was identical to Seb's, he thought it better to come in," ominously noted Maurizio Arrivabene, the Ferrari team boss, with finger pointed squarely at the Finn.

Until then, the weekend had mostly been positive for the former world champion, headlined by his qualifying defeat of Vettel. Instead, with his race wrecked by the erroneous call, to which insult was added to injury when his inters burnt out just as the rain finally fell, Raikkonen crossed the line five places behind his team-mate. In the context of Kimi's fight to save his seat, it was a poor result amounting to something of a disaster. 
Rating out of ten: 6

Like Hulkenberg, Sergio Perez left it a bit too long before finally pitting for wet tyres but still finished in the points, helping Force India to their second double top-ten finish in a row. The team will clearly be hoping for more of the same now their new car has finally arrived; and no-one will be keener to put it through its paces than the Mexican, who has slipped into his team-mate's shadow during recent races.    
Rating out of ten: 7

At last! Eight months after re-signing for McLaren, Fernando Alonso finally has a point to show for his endeavours after breaking his 2015 points-scoring duck with 10th place at Silverstone. A small step forward, but no more than that with only a Sauber and the two Manors behind the McLaren when the chequered flag was unfurled. "Race with many retirements today that helped us to score first point," Alonso acknowledged in a post-race tweet.

Indeed, the Spaniard was so underwhelmed by his result that he seemed more concerned after the grand prix with lambasting the quality of driving on the opening lap. "The start was unbelievable," complained an irate Fernando. "It was a big mess as we arrived at Turn Three. The two Lotus drivers were far too aggressive, and they touched each other and in avoiding them, I had a half-spin, and touched Jenson. There were a lot of retirements, and little common sense on display."
Rating out of ten: 7

And those finishing outside the top 10...

Like Raikkonen, Marcus Ericsson switched to intermediates too soon and was forced in again - not once but twice, for mediums and then a switch back to inters. And considering that he eventually finished just four seconds behind Alonso, it was a decision that probably cost the Swede, and Sauber, a point.

Given that twelfth place amounted, by a margin of two positions, Roberto Merhi's best result in F1, it would almost be churlish to point out that but for his team-mate's spin, he was set to cross the line last of the 13 runners who reached the chequered flag. "To be honest, this had not been the best weekend for me prior to the race, but it all came good when it mattered and I found the performance I needed to get ahead," Merhi said afterwards.

He made the chequered flag at his home race but the final result was, in the driver’s own words, "incredibly frustrating" as Will Stevens wound up behind Merhi in the timesheets. A premature stop for inters was the principal culprit, leaving Stevens to run a 15-lap final stint on intermediates tyres that were worn out long before he spun off into the barriers and tore off his front-wing.

Excluded from the ratings after retiring from the race:

Carlos Sainz
Daniel Ricciardo
Max Verstappen
Pastor Maldonado
Romain Grosjean
Felipe Nasr
Jenson Button

Don't miss the F1 Midweek Report for all the analysis of the British GP. Former FIA president Max Mosley and F1 correspondent for The Times Kevin Eason join Natalie Pinkham in the studio. Catch it at 8:30pm on Wednesday July 8 on Sky Sports F1.

F1 Midweek Report