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Formula 1 European GP

2011 European Grand Prix The European Grand Prix

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Lap 5: Button closes into Turn 12 but can't get it done in the second zone this time around at Turn 17.
Lap 4: Button is also eying a pass on Rosberg in the Mercedes and he's on the DRS this time around.
Lap 4: Vettel sets the fastest lap at 1m45.186s as he pulls 2.2 seconds clear of team-mate Webber.
Lap 4: Sutil in ninth is harrying Michael Schumacher and may be able to take advantage of Mercedes' poor race pace.
Lap 4: Schumacher in eighth is falling away from Button's seventh-placed McLaren and is coming under pressure from Sutil in the Force India.
Lap 4: Replays of the start show Petrov losing places hand over fist in the opening complex of corners after the start. He remains in 15th.
Lap 3: Liuzzi, D'Ambrosio and Karthikeyan bring up the rear, with all 24 cars still circulating.
Lap 3: Into lap three and the DRS is now available for the first time.
Lap 3: Webber is beginning to shake off Alonso, who made a fine move around the outside of his rapid-starting team-mate at Turn 2 on the first lap.
Lap 3: Kovalainen leads the Lotus charge from 19th with Trulli next and Maldonado a lowly 21st after a tardy opening to the race.
Lap 3: Perez is 16th ahead of Alguersuari 17th and Glock is past both Lotus cars - he runs 18th.
Lap 2: Di Resta is up a position and runs 11th with Barrichello 12th, Kobayashi 13th, Buemi 14th and Petrov 15th after a shocking start.
Lap 2: Vettel's lead is 1.3 seconds already from team-mate Webber as they race into the second tour.
Lap 1: Vettel has a sizable lead down to Turn 17 for the first time as Hamilton begins to look for a way past Massa's Ferrari.
Lap 1: Sutil is ninth and Heidfeld 10th as they work through lap 1.
Lap 1: Rosberg has sprung up to sixth in his Mercedes, demoting Button to seventh in his McLaren.
Lap 1: It's a clean start down the field with little or no contact. All 24 cars have made it through the opening sequence of corners.
Lap 1: Vettel leads down to the bridge from Webber and the fast-starting Ferraris of Alonso and Massa. Hamilton is shuffled down to fifth.
Lap 1: Vettel gets away and Webber is close but it's a clear Red Bull one-two into Turn 2 with Alonso third.
Lap 1: The five lights go out and we are racing around the harbour in Valencia.
All cars are now in position. Standby for action. We await the lights ...
He stops in pole position and the field begins to form up on the grid behind him.
As ever, DRS will not be available for the first couple of racing laps.
Vettel comes through Turn 25 and begins to back the field up behind him.
The polesitter now turns for home and winds his way through the series of lefts and rights towards the end of the lap.
The field is well spread out as Vettel heads down the second of the two DRS zones this afternoon, towards Turn 17.
Down the first of the two long straights and down into the bottle neck at Turn 12.
All 24 cars are away from the dummy grid and Vettel leads the pack through Turn 8 and over the bridge.
Most drivers are starting on the softer tyre, while Petrov and Perez look to be getting a stint on the harder rubber out of the way early.
The formation lap begins at Valencia. Vettel leads the field away from pole position.
The engines fire with a minute to the formation lap.
Hamilton starts from third on the grid and will be hoping he can use the clean line advantage to pip Webber from second.
A packed crowd is filling the available grandstands around the circuit - many with Spanish flags looking for a strong Alonso result today.
Air temperature is up at 27 degrees and may click through 28 before the end of the race.
Track temperature is just one click off the predicted maximum of 48 degrees Celsius this afternoon.
There are five minutes to go until the start of the formation lap at Valencia.
Petrov climbs aboard the Renault as he prepares for the start of the race, while Webber is leaving it until the last possible moment.
The grid begins to clear of non-essential personnel, leaving the mechanics making final preparations on the field of 24 cars.
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Turns 12 and 17, the slow corners at the end of the long straights, will be where the overtaking takes place if the DRS proves effective.

By: Emlyn Hughes, Geoff Creighton

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