2015 Australian Grand Prix Sunday - Australian Grand Prix
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"Harsh drivability out of Turn 3," reports Vettel.
Massa is told that "Vettel is fuel saving. This is great, keep it up."
Still running:
1 Hamilton
2 Rosberg
3 Vettel
4 Massa
5 Nasr
6 Ricciardo
7 Hulkenberg
8 Sainz
9 Ericsson
10 Perez
11 Button
1 Hamilton
2 Rosberg
3 Vettel
4 Massa
5 Nasr
6 Ricciardo
7 Hulkenberg
8 Sainz
9 Ericsson
10 Perez
11 Button
Hamilton and Rosberg are both lighting-up the timing screen, and on this lap it looks like Hamilton has the edge.
Ericsson takes on new softs but that pitstop has dropped him behind Sainz into ninth.
Massa is keeping Vettel honest. He's started chipping away at the Ferrari and is now 3.2s behind the Ferrari on lap 45/58.
Edd Straw: "This race has been hugely unfortunate for Raikkonen. Pace was good, but circumstances conspired against him. Very encouraging for the rest of the season though."
Ericsson locks up and skitters through the edge of the Turn 6 gravel. He's ordered to pit.
Rosberg didn't have much joy with Hulkenberg there either, so the gap is back up to 2.2s.
Rosberg continues to make gains on Hamilton again as they deal with lapping Hulkenberg.
Raikkonen initially said "something broke on the car". After being told to find a safe place to stop, he then asked: "Did you leave the wheel loose?" Ferrari confirms that was the case - "Sorry, Kimi".
That was a bit easier than last time - Perez cruises past Button into 10th.
Rosberg reports that his tyres "are feeling a little better again". He's taken half a second out of Hamilton that lap, the gap is under two seconds.
Button in 10th is now 3.4s ahead of Perez in 11th... but the Force India is lapping 2.9s faster.
Looks like Raikkonen's left rear wasn't properly attached and that's why he was ordered to park the car.
Edd Straw: "Saw one of the mechanics on the left-rear corner of the car waving as Raikkonen left the pits. Could well be that the wheel is not properly attached."
And with Raikkonen out, 11 cars left and Button up to 10th!
Raikkonen had rejoined still in fifth and would've had a go at catching Massa for fourth from a long way back.
Raikkonen/Ferrari/AusGP
The Finn's Ferrari retires in the run-off at Turn 3.
Raikkonen slows and pulls off on his out-lap!
Raikkonen makes his second pitstop and takes on the mediums he hasn't run yet.
Ricciardo is now right on Nasr's tail for sixth place.
Oh dear Perez, he's rejoined behind Button again. And battle will surely be rejoined as the Force India is on fresh softs.
Another three tenths for Hamilton, and the gap increases to 2.5s.
Rosberg's mediums only have 13 laps on them, but he's raising the question of whether or not he can get to the end on this set of Pirelli rubber.
Perez is finally passed by Sainz and then finally pits after 39 laps.
The gap between Vettel and Massa has stabilised at just over four seconds. Raikkonen is closing on Massa, but he still has to stop, having not run the mediums yet.
Hamilton takes another four tenths away from Rosberg in the first sector alone. Maybe he was biding his time after all.
Hulkenberg and Ericsson are still running in eighth and ninth, very lonely and unlikely to see another car bar Mercedes lapping them.
Hulkenberg/ForceIndia/AusGP
Rosberg has used 0.8kg more fuel in the race so far, and has he is having to manage that situation, Hamilton pumps in a 1m31.1s - a new fastest lap. The gap jumps up to 2.4s.
Verstappen has made it back to the Toro Rosso pitwall to watch team-mate Sainz's efforts on Perez.
The slightly resurgent Ricciardo does his best lap of the day and gets to within a second of Nasr for sixth.
Even with DRS, there's not a lot Sainz's Red Bull-Renault can do about Perez's Force India-Mercedes on the pits straight.
Hamilton responds with another personal best, and this time Rosberg's pace has dropped, so the gap increases to 1.9s.
Sainz tries around the outside of Perez into Turn 13, to no avail.
Rosberg seems to be averaging an advantage of 0.2s per lap as he hunts down Hamilton for the lead.
Raikkonen is now within 6.1s of Massa for fourth, with both needing to make one pitstop. Nasr is 23.5s behind Raikkonen, so that's job done.
Sainz gets very close to Perez indeed at Turn 1 but has to tuck back in. He stays 11th.
Stopwatch
Hamilton pulls out a personal best 1m31.5s, but Rosberg betters it with a 31.3s - a new fastest lap. The gap is 1.5s.
Ricciardo continues to get closer to Nasr. The sixth to seventh gap is now 1.6s and the Red Bull was 0.8s faster last time around.
By: AUTOSPORT staff, Lawrence Barretto, Glenn Freeman, Edd Straw, Jack Benyon
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