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Formula 1
Bahrain GP
2015 Bahrain Grand Prix Sunday - Bahrain Grand Prix
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Raikkonen has clawed back ground though - he's 1.0s adrift now. He needs to get under that to get DRS though.
Having passed Massa, incidentally, Perez is too far behind Grosjean to catch the Lotus so eighth will be the limit of his neat drive.
Rosberg and Raikkonen are now dealing with traffic, and so far it looks like Rosberg had a better time of it through there.
Red Bull's concern was that blue flags for the second place fight would break Kvyat and Massa's battle up. Good response from the Russian.
EDD STRAW: "Raikkonen not too far off being in range and should get into DRS range on the next lap. If Rosberg's been smart, he should still have a bit in reserve to stay ahead. Raikkonen's pace advantage last lap was six-tenths, which isn't necessarily enough for an easy pass."
"We need to make a move pretty quickly," Red Bulls tells Kvyat. So he does, and passes Massa for ninth.
Rosberg stays out of DRS reach for now - 1.1s ahead of Raikkonen on lap 55/57.
Kvyat is all over the back of Massa for ninth as Rosberg and Raikkonen come up to lap them.
Hamilton still has five seconds over the fight for second, and he's dealt with quite a bit of traffic that they still have to catch.
"Battery full now," is Williams's message to Bottas. "Yeah, yeah," is his brisk reply. He still keeps Vettel at bay.
1.2s is the gap midway through lap 54, so DRS time is very close.
So, we know Raikkonen is going to get there. The question is will he have enough tyre performance left, and will the Ferrari engine give him enough grunt to get the job done once he gets into DRS range.
Kvyat and Massa both get lapped by Hamilton, so are now free to resume their fight for ninth.
Only 1.7s separates Rosberg and Raikkonen now with four laps to go.
Vettel nearly clatters into the back of Bottas at Turn 1 as the Ferrari brakes much later and locks up.
Raikkonen's had a good first half of this lap, the gap is down to two seconds to Rosberg now.
Red Bull tells Ricciardo "it's not all over" as Bottas and Vettel fight ahead of him, but the gap is still 16s with six laps left.
Five laps to go. Hamilton leads Rosberg by 5.0s.
More importantly, Raikkonen is 3.0s behind Rosberg. So he had seven tenths out of him on that lap.
More importantly, Raikkonen is 3.0s behind Rosberg. So he had seven tenths out of him on that lap.
Nasr has passed Hulkenberg for 12th and is romping up behind Alonso for 11th. Three stops looking better than two stops here.
Raikkonen is now just 3.7s behind Rosberg on lap 52/57. He took 1.1s out of him on the previous lap.
Still no encouragement for Vettel, he can't do anything about Bottas ahead in fourth.
Perez finally clears Massa's tyre-worn Williams for eighth. Kvyat will soon be along to do the same.
Hamilton turns the wick up, extending his lead by seven tenths over Rosberg to 5.8s.
Raikkonen is now 4.8s behind Rosberg, who is being told to look after his brakes.
Raikkonen is now 4.8s behind Rosberg, who is being told to look after his brakes.
Maldonado's revived Lotus is lapping quicker than pretty much everyone except Raikkonen. But he's 50s behind Ericsson in 15th.
Raikkonen has some clear air now, so let's see what he has left in those soft tyres.
Having cleared team-mate Ericsson, Nasr is now right with Hulkenberg for 12th as both catch Alonso ahead.
Raikkonen takes 1.1s out of Rosberg that time. Gap is 5.8s, lap 50/57.
The Ferrari may now be quicker than the Williams in most circumstances, but Bottas still has enough thrust out of corners to escape Vettel.
EDD STRAW: "Raikkonen's pace advantage now down to a second a lap. Don't think that's going to be enough unless he can find some more pace from somewhere."
Just a few laps ago Raikkonen was enjoying a one-second advantage in the long middle sector. This time around it was only 0.4s through that part of the lap.
Ricciardo sets another personal best but he's 16s behind Bottas and Vettel and not gaining enough to get involved.
Rosberg is clearly doing all he can, he's lapping slightly faster than Hamilton and the gap is back under five seconds to 4.7 at the front.
EDD STRAW: "As Vettel is showing, it's not always that easy to pass Mercedes-powered cars. That could make it difficult for Raikkonen to get into second place - needs to be with Rosberg and still have a decent grip advantage."
Kvyat is gaining on the Massa/Perez scrap for eighth. Red Bull gives him a bit of praise.
Raikkonen closes to 6.9 behind Rosberg, from 7.6s the lap before.
Williams tells Bottas that he can fight Vettel hard as there's a big gap behind. They get very close at Turn 1 again.
People we're not talking about much but who are doing fine by themselves: Ricciardo in sixth and Grosjean in seventh.
"Come on, the blue flags," says Raikkonen. "They just don't move those people."
Perez is now right on Massa's tail for eighth.
The Bottas/Vettel battle is approaching Manor-shaped traffic.
By: Glenn Freeman, Edd Straw, Ben Anderson, Matt Beer, Lawrence Barretto
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