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Formula 1
Chinese GP
2012 Chinese Grand Prix The Chinese Grand Prix
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13 hrs
42 min
54 sec
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Lap 51: Five laps remain in a thrilling Chinese Grand Prix.
Lap 51: Kovalainen in last position is back into the pits for a fourth time but it's a long stop. He spends 1m25s in the pitlane.
Lap 50: Button - on a three stop - is all over the back of two-stopping Vettel, who must be getting to the end of his tyre life.
Lap 50: Raikkonen's last lap was 1m47.379s - six seconds off the pace as he continues falling away dramatically.
Lap 50: Grosjean is sixth with Senna seventh, Maldonado eighth, Alonso ninth, Kobayashi 10th, Perez 11th, Raikkonen 12th and di Resta in 13th.
Lap 49: Rosberg's lead gap is now a massive 25.2 seconds, with the Mercedes man having a comfortable cushion even if he has late tyre troubles.
Lap 49: Now we have the Sauber pair battling hard and Kobayashi snatches 10th from Perez going into Turn 14.
Lap 49: So way behind Rosberg it is Vettel now chased by Button and Hamilton followed by Webber.
Lap 49: Raikkonen's tyres have clearly gone and now the second group begins to come through. Grosjean and Maldonado also drill the Lotus quickly.
Lap 49: Raikkonen is struggling to clean his tyres and now falls behind Senna as well.
Lap 48: Hamilton dives for the inside at Turn 14 and clears the Lotus - as does Webber.
Lap 48: Webber is also wide on the marbles, letting Hamilton past and the McLaren is now trying a move on Raikkonen.
Lap 48: Vettel dives down the inside of Raikkonen at Turn 6. The Finn is forced wide and Vettel is through.
Lap 48: It's fantastic racing at Shanghai and now the front group is providing the action once again.
Lap 48: Hamilton eyes a move on Webber at Turn 1. It doesn't stick initially and the scrap continues wheel-to-wheel.
Lap 47: Senna in seventh is 1.5s behind Hamilton and he leads the next train of six cars.
Lap 47: Vettel is right with Raikkonen, chased by Button, Webber and Hamilton - all right together on the road.
Lap 47: Alonso is also involved in this mighty scrap and he passes Perez to grab 10th spot.
Lap 47: So behind the top six it's now Senna with a 3.2s gap to Grosjean and then Maldonado in ninth.
Lap 46: Rosberg's advantage is now a massive 24.7 seconds from Raikkonen and he still has good pace on aging tyres.
Lap 46: Senna benefited from all this dicing and while Grosjean was running wide, so the Brazilian snuck through into seventh.
Lap 45: Grosjean and Maldonado are side by side round almost the whole of Turns 12 and 13 and the Lotus driver just holds on to eighth.
Lap 45: Webber sends a bold move on Grosjean at Turn 6, with the Lotus running wide into 7 - letting Hamilton through as well.
Lap 44: There is just 10 seconds between Raikkonen (second) and di Resta (12th) as the various tyre strategies condense the field.
Lap 44: Webber joins the back of the chasing train, with Hamilton on a charge and right behind the Red Bull.
Lap 44: Alonso drops back to 11th place, behind Perez.
Lap 44: All this scrapping in traffic is playing right into Rosberg's hands, with the Mercedes now 22.6 seconds ahead of Raikkone, Vettel and Button
Lap 43: Maldonado and Alonso were right there with the Senna-Hamilton duo, but it's Alonso who is caught out and runs wide onto the asphalt run-off area and loses ground.
Lap 43: Hamilton makes a move on Senna at Turn 6 and makes it stick. The Briton moves into seventh place.
Lap 43: Raikkonen is now up to second place and has Vettel on his tail.
Lap 42: Massa rejoins in 14th. Vergne has also been in for another stop - his third.
Lap 42: Rosberg is told to look after his tyres as Mercedes continue to eye a run to the flag on his current rubber.
Lap 42: Massa finally pits the Ferrari and the rest will breathe a sigh of relief.
Lap 41: Massa has held on well to this second set of tyres, but looking down the order, a 20 second add-on for his stop will still put him out of the top 10 - the field is so tight.
Lap 41: Button is unable to make his fresh tyres work as he gets boxed up in all that traffic.
Lap 41: Massa is now up to second but is yet to stop again. Raikkonen, Vettel, Button and Grosjean are all together right behind the Ferrari.
Lap 41: Kobayashi in 14th posts the fastest lap of the race - 1m39.960s.
Lap 40: Button rejoined from his stop in sixth, but quickly dispatches Grosjean and moves into fifth spot.
By: Emlyn Hughes, Geoff Creighton, Simon Strang
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