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Formula 1
Chinese GP
2014 Chinese Grand Prix Sunday - Chinese GP
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Slightly miscount by Hamilton who says quizzically "I just got the chequered flag?". Next time, Lewis...
Hamilton begins his last lap firmly on course for a third straight victory.
Ricciardo isn't going to make it onto Alonso's tail unless something goes very wrong for Ferrari. The gap is 3.5s with two laps left.
EDD STRAW: "Have to say, this is a really outstanding performance by Alonso and Ferrari. Team has made improvements, the worrying tyre drop-off on the long-runs in Friday practice tackled and Alonso himself has driven a superb race."
Bottas making one last charge at sixth place. He was quicker than Hulkenberg last lap, the gap down to 1.7s.
Now clear of backmarkers, Ricciardo is 0.4s faster than Alonso so is 3.7s behind with three laps left.
The gap between Rosberg and Alonso isn't that big at six seconds, though bear in mind the Ferrari has been going flat-out to resist Ricciardo and the Mercedes has been chilling.
Slight delay for Ricciardo lapping Maldonado and the Ferrari is four seconds clear again.
Ricciardo has got the gap to Alonso down to 3.6s and is 0.8s faster. Four laps left...
This result will keep Rosberg in the championship lead but only by four points. It'll be the German's 13th straight points finish.
That's the best points-scoring run that anyone is on at the moment by some distance, with Alonso on seven races in the top 10 in second in that tally.
Obviously not as good as a load of race wins for Rosberg, though.
That's the best points-scoring run that anyone is on at the moment by some distance, with Alonso on seven races in the top 10 in second in that tally.
Obviously not as good as a load of race wins for Rosberg, though.
Looks as if Gutierrez blew his chance to grab 15th from Massa. That soft tyre pace is gone and they're lapping at about the same speed.
Chilton stops again.
Red Bull tells Ricciardo the chase is still worth it: "Alonso is matching your pace, but he may run into trouble at the end. Keep pushing."
As for Vettel, he's fallen 16.1s away from Ricciardo.
The Alonso/Ricciardo gap has stabilised at 4.9s. Ricciardo was 0.3s quicker that time but hasn't got many laps left.
Rosberg has closed Hamilton's lead down a little but there's no serious challenge here. They're 13.7s apart with eight laps left.
With Button 11th and Magnussen 13th, McLaren looks set to miss out on the top 10 altogether. Would be the first time since last year's British Grand Prix.
EDD STRAW: "Alonso is certainly finding tyre life much less of a problem than he did on Friday, when the drop off was very rapid. Suggests Ferrari has done an excellent job of digesting the data it gathered on Friday."
Ricciardo's engineer tells him that he "can catch" Alonso but with 10 laps left and Ferrari's straightline advantage, it could be tough.
Finally Alonso manages to outpace Ricciardo - only by 0.062s but it keeps the gap at 5.4s.
Alonso is doing his very best to keep hold of what would be Ferrari's first podium of 2014. Again he sets a new personal best, and Ricciardo is still quicker, but only by 0.2s this time.
Sure enough, after getting the fuel news, Rosberg immediately asks his team how big the gap to Hamilton is.
He might be annoyed to be 15.2s behind leader Hamilton, though.
Mercedes lets Rosberg know that the fuel is fine to the end. He won't be too annoyed by that.
Alonso does another personal best and only loses 0.3s to Ricciardo that time. The gap is 5.5s with 12 laps left.
Ericsson back in the pits for another stop.
Gutierrez took the softs in his last stop, and he's into the low 1m42s straight away. He's 4.9s behind Massa.
No sign of Vettel coming back at his team-mate. Ricciardo was 1.1s quicker and the gap is 10.3s.
Ricciardo takes 0.8s out of Alonso that time.
Things have stabilised in the battle for sixth. Hulk leads Bottas by 2.9s, both lapping at around the same pace.
Hamilton just did his best lap of the race, though it's 0.7s away from the 1m40.402s that Rosberg did just after his final pitstop.
Behind the Top 5, the order looks like this on Lap 43:
6 Hulkenberg
7 Bottas
8 Raikkonen
9 Perez
10 Kvyat
11 Button
12 Vergne
13 Magnussen
14 Maldonado
15 Massa
16 Gutierrez
17 Bianchi
18 Kobayashi
19 Chilton
20 Ericsson
Ret Grosjean
Ret Sutil
6 Hulkenberg
7 Bottas
8 Raikkonen
9 Perez
10 Kvyat
11 Button
12 Vergne
13 Magnussen
14 Maldonado
15 Massa
16 Gutierrez
17 Bianchi
18 Kobayashi
19 Chilton
20 Ericsson
Ret Grosjean
Ret Sutil
Now can Ricciardo catch Alonso for third? There's 6.6s between them.
Rosberg quickly pulls away and Alonso has to chance to reply in the next DRS zone.
Rosberg sweeps past Alonso with a very easy DRS pass on the back straight.
Rosberg has 15 laps to try to pass the Ferrari and is now in DRS range. Mercedes one-two coming up...?
Alonso sets his best lap of the race as he pushes to try to hold second, but Rosberg is still 1.1s quicker.
Gutierrez makes another stop.
Lead order after 40 of 56 laps:
1 Hamilton
2 Alonso +13.8s
3 Rosberg +15.9s
4 Ricciardo +21.9s
5 Vettel +29.2s
1 Hamilton
2 Alonso +13.8s
3 Rosberg +15.9s
4 Ricciardo +21.9s
5 Vettel +29.2s
Between being annoyed, Rosberg has taken 1.3s out of Alonso on the last lap and is now just 2.1s behind.
By: Matt Beer, Edd Straw, Ben Anderson, Jonathan Noble, Andrew van Leeuwen
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