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Formula 1
Australian GP
2014 Australian Grand Prix Sunday - Australian Grand Prix
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8 Days
12 hrs
57 min
32 sec
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Sauber radios Sutil, who is running 12th, to say it's aware of a problem on his car.
New fastest lap of the race for Bottas, 1m34.925s. He's right behind Raikkonen.
EDD STRAW: "Some fine performances by the three rookies in the early stages of this race. Kevin Magnussen, after surviving his moment at the start, is third, Daniil Kvyat is holding his own in ninth and Caterham's Marcus Ericsson is holding 11th place."
Raikkonen's being harried for all his worth, but he's actually quicker than everyone up to Rosberg.
Bottas moves to the outside at Turn 9 but Raikkonen holds the place.
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Kobayashi is explaining his start incident, which the stewards are going to investigate.
"When I braked I couldn't stop and I hit someone. I really didn't want to do anything like that, but the tyres were so cold after that extra formation lap. It was very difficult to stop the car and there were no brakes at all, I had no grip."
"When I braked I couldn't stop and I hit someone. I really didn't want to do anything like that, but the tyres were so cold after that extra formation lap. It was very difficult to stop the car and there were no brakes at all, I had no grip."
It's interesting that while Bottas is making up good ground, his rear warning light is on - which means his engine is in fuel save mode. He is not going flat out...
Magnussen has pulled clear of Hulkenberg now and has 2.4s over the Force India. That's because Alonso is right behind the German.
Great move from Bottas again! He slides up the inside of Raikkonen into Turn 3, holds his ground and gets ahead into 4.
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Mercedes gives Rosberg clearance to crack on.
"We'd like -0.5 on the delta time. We need to pull a gap to Ricciardo and then we'll be happy."
"We'd like -0.5 on the delta time. We need to pull a gap to Ricciardo and then we'll be happy."
Ricciardo's just over 5s behind Rosberg now, the Aussie running strongly at the moment and holding a similar advantage over Magnussen.
After being passed by the flying Bottas, Vergne now has Toro Rosso team-mate Kvyat and Button's McLaren tucked up behind him for eighth.
Alonso and the absolutely storming Bottas are behind Hulkenberg and giving him some grief now.
Vettel has now officially retired in the pits, as have Hamilton, Bianchi and first-lap crashers Massa and Kobayashi.
Stopwatch
New fastest lap for Rosberg as he flexes his muscles out front. It's a 1m34.217s and that is 0.8s quicker than Ricciardo can muster.
Button is reporting some early tyre graining.
Bottas gets a great run out of Turns 1/2 and hassles Alonso into Turn 3, but is rebuffed.
Bottas brushes the wall on the exit of Turn 9! He's broken the rear suspension!
Is it suspension damage? No, puncture. Race still alive for the Finn.
Sutil reports that "everything is OK", but you wouldn't say that from his lap times. He's 4s off the pace in 11th and 3s slower than the cars in the lower top 10.
But such is the 'walking wounded' vibe at this end of the field, Sutil isn't holding anyone up, as pursuers Maldonado, Ericsson, Grosjean and Chilton are all slower still.
But such is the 'walking wounded' vibe at this end of the field, Sutil isn't holding anyone up, as pursuers Maldonado, Ericsson, Grosjean and Chilton are all slower still.
Claire Williams doesn't look too pleased right now in the garage. Bottas pits. Taking some time...but now he rejoins.
After Button's report of tyre worries, McLaren says he should get "in the window" for a pitstop.
Yellow flag
There are yellow flags out for the debris left by that Bottas touch...might he get a reprieve? He does! Safety car.
Button straight into the pits as the safety car emerges.
Just before that, Button was asking McLaren for information about the leaders' pace - "not the Mercedes, but the rest..."
Rosberg had extended his lead to 8.8s before that.
Perez also comes in for Force India.
Rosberg pits.
All this, and we're only 12 laps in!
Ricciardo and Magnussen are also in.
Hulkenberg, Alonso, Raikkonen and Vergne stop.
Raikkonen asks Ferrari for more front wing in this stop.
Looks like the whole midfield will be in too, everyone is taking this chance to clear a pitstop.
BEN ANDERSON: "Bottas could be about to reclaim some benefit from his own error here, thanks to that safety car.
"The Williams is looking strong in race-trim and team was confident of its prospects in the dry heading into the race.
"Bottas needs to work his way through again, but based on how good he looked early on that is certainly possible.
"He just needs to stay away from the walls this time!"
"The Williams is looking strong in race-trim and team was confident of its prospects in the dry heading into the race.
"Bottas needs to work his way through again, but based on how good he looked early on that is certainly possible.
"He just needs to stay away from the walls this time!"
When everyone rejoins, we'll run through the top 10. And the list of retirees, with two high-profile additions.
Red Bull puts Vettel's retirement officially down to an engine problem.
Running order behind the safety car as they head onto lap 13:
1 Rosberg
2 Ricciardo
3 Magnussen
4 Hulkenberg
5 Alonso
6 Button
7 Vergne
8 Raikkonen
9 Sutil
10 Kvyat
11 Maldonado
12 Ericsson
13 Grosjean
14 Chilton
15 Gutierrez
16 Bottas
17 Perez
18 Bianchi (6 laps down)
1 Rosberg
2 Ricciardo
3 Magnussen
4 Hulkenberg
5 Alonso
6 Button
7 Vergne
8 Raikkonen
9 Sutil
10 Kvyat
11 Maldonado
12 Ericsson
13 Grosjean
14 Chilton
15 Gutierrez
16 Bottas
17 Perez
18 Bianchi (6 laps down)
Ricciardo asks Red Bull "how was the pace? Not compared to Rosberg, but everyone else" and is reassured that he's second quickest.
Ricciardo's engineer says Bottas was the only other one who looked dangerous before his semi-shunt.
Replays from Button's in-car camera show he juuuuust made it into the pitlane as the safety car signs came on.
By: Matt Beer, Edd Straw, Ben Anderson, Jonathan Noble, Scott Mitchell, Andrew van Leeuwen
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