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Formula 1 Chinese GP

2014 Chinese Grand Prix Sunday - Chinese GP

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This ought to be an easy backstraight DRS pass for Rosberg.
Rosberg is now within DRS range of Vettel, who he outpaced by 0.9s last time.
We're on lap 21 of 56 and Hamilton's lead over Alonso is back up to 5.8s.
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"Pace is good, only the Mercedes are quicker than you. You are quicker than Alonso and Vettel," Ricciardo is told by Red Bull.
Here's how many laps on their second stint tyres (all medium) the frontrunners have done so far:

Hamilton, 3
Alonso, 9
Vettel, 8
Rosberg, 7
Ricciardo, 5
Hulkenberg, 9
Bottas, 8
Raikkonen, 10
Grosjean, 11
Perez, 10
Ricciardo isn't letting Rosberg vanish either. The Australian has set a few personal best laps and is within 3.1s of the Mercedes.
Kvyat honing in on Button there, and they're both likely to come under threat from Vergne, who is on the soft tyres.
Rosberg continues to catch Vettel, but he's only creeping up on the Red Bull now rather than marching towards it.
After that disastrous pitstop, Massa is now 20th, 1.5s behind Chilton. He should pass the Marussia, but then there is a 7.7s gap to Bianchi. Long afternoon ahead for the Brazilian.
With the order now settled down a bit, here's how things are shaping up behind the Top 5:

6 Hulkenberg
7 Bottas
8 Raikkonen
9 Grosjean
10 Perez
11 Button
12 Kvyat
13 Vergne
14 Gutierrez
15 Magnussen
16 Maldonado
17 Kobayashi
18 Bianchi
19 Chilton
20 Massa
21 Ericsson
Ret Sutil
Hamilton swiftly sets about rebuilding that advantage with a lap 0.8s quicker than Alonso.
Lead order after 18 laps:

1 Hamilton
2 Alonso +3.7s
3 Vettel +7.0s
4 Rosberg +9.9s
5 Ricciardo + 12.5s
Running long has cost Hamilton a lot of his lead, but is likely to give him better strategic options. He's now only 3.7s ahead of Alonso having led by 10s before the pitstops began.
Rosberg's engineer is asking him to read out what dash display say so he can get some fuel advice as his telemetry has failed.

The good news is that he's got plenty and can press on.
Of those who started on the softs (everyone except Magnussen), everyone has now switched to the mediums with the exception of Vergne.
Rosberg is now within 4.2s of Vettel's third place, while the Red Bull has dropped to 2.7s behind Alonso.
Magnussen is into the pits. That gives Perez another spot, he's now 10th.
Hamilton makes his first pitstop at the end of lap 16. He was 31.3s clear of Alonso so will have no problem keeping the lead.
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Hamilton is loving his Pirellis: "surprisingly the front tyres still feel really good, as do the rears." He's yet to pit after 16 laps.
Red Bull agrees with Vettel's plan so expect him to sit behind Alonso for now.
EDD STRAW: "Hamilton is the only driver who started on softs who has yet to stop, and is reporting that the front tyres feel really good. The only other car that has yet to stop is Magnussen's McLaren, which started on the mediums."
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Vettel declares "we're too slow on the straights, we won't pass him" about Alonso. He asks "do you think it's worth backing off?"
Ricciardo rejoins behind Rosberg, but will that long first stint pay off later?
Vergne now pitting from eighth.
Stopwatch
Rosberg is now charging, he sets a new fastest lap in 1m42.231s.
Ricciardo pits from second on lap 15.
Perez sneaks past Button for what is currently 14th, although that will change with some of the late stoppers now in.
Rosberg has rejoined a full 8.6s behind the Alonso/Vettel battle.
Kvyat and Gutierrez making their stops from 8th and 13th respectively.
Alonso and Vettel is lapping 0.8s/1.4s faster than Hamilton and Ricciardo on their fresh tyres at the moment.
Vettel is within DRS range of Alonso for second.
The battle for 14th is on between Button and Perez. Gap down to just 0.5s. Button was the first driver to take on the medium tyre, about six laps ago.
Hamilton and Ricciardo are still to make their first pitstops and run first and second, 16.4s apart.
Vettel asks for a reminder of "which brake bias map is for primes".
More good news for Ricciardo as he's told he won't need to save any fuel.
Staying on longer has cost Rosberg, he rejoins a fair way behind Alonso and Vettel's fight for what will be second.
Rosberg is called to pit at the end of lap 13.
Bottas has made his first stop as well.
Vettel sets the best middle sector of anyone so far as he tries to come back at Alonso.
Ricciardo is told the plan is for him to run two or three more laps.

By: Matt Beer, Edd Straw, Ben Anderson, Jonathan Noble, Andrew van Leeuwen

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