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Formula 1 Bahrain GP

2015 Bahrain Grand Prix Sunday - Bahrain Grand Prix

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On go the mediums - that have served Raikkonen so well - for Vettel. This should be his final stint.
Vettel pits.
Grosjean makes his second pitstop from seventh place on lap 32. That elevates Perez another spot.
Raikkonen has used around 0.6-7kg less than Vettel, who he continues to hunt down.
"I'm feeling something strange in the car," said Sainz, who suspects one of his wheels was coming off, as he parked the Toro Rosso.
Nothing in it on fuel usage between the Mercedes drivers. Normally, Hamilton has quite a big edge in that department.
Four seconds now between the Mercedes drivers out front, as Hamilton takes another three tenths out of Rosberg.

Raikkonen is faster by the same margin over Vettel, and now sits 4.6s behind his team-mate.
Alonso has been doing his utmost to fight off the three-stoppers, but Massa and Nasr have now both made it past him.
Yellow flag
Sainz's Toro Rosso has pulled off the track and stopped.
LAWRENCE BARRETTO: "Kimi Raikkonen is looking pretty handy here in P4. The Finn is lapping quicker on the medium tyres than Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel, who are running the softs, and matching race leader Lewis Hamilton. If he keeps up this pace, he could be contention for P2 when he bolts on the softs for the final stint whereas the trio in front must take the mediums."
Raikkonen is now within five seconds of Vettel, who is 4.1s adrift of Rosberg.

Hamilton leads his team-mate by 3.7s at the moment.
Raikkonen is told that his pace is good, and that he should "save some power for the end". Ferrari clearly thinks something interesting could be going on in the closing stages, then.
Hulkenberg breezes past Alonso on the pits straight to retake 10th. Massa is now poised to do likewise.
Gaps at the front:

1 Hamilton
2 Rosberg +3.3
3 Vettel +7.1
4 Raikkonen +12.6
Hamilton's lead over Rosberg is now above three seconds. It all looks very straightforward at the moment, as we're just past the halfway mark in the Bahrain GP.
Lap 27 laptimes:

Hamilton 1m39.4s
Rosberg 1m39.5s
Vettel 1m39.8s
Raikkonen 1m39.3s
Right now it really does seem that the Ferrari drivers' battle is with each other, rather than looking ahead at Mercedes. However, Raikkonen is regularly lapping just a fraction faster than Rosberg. He's going to have to deal with Vettel first though.
McLaren tells Alonso - who is two-stopping - that he's set to be racing a bunch of three-stoppers at the end.
We have our answer - Vettel went off at the end of the backstraight, running wide.
There are still 30 laps to go, so the Saubers, Massa, Maldonado and Hulkenberg are definitely three-stopping.
Vettel matches the Mercedes through the middle sector this time, suggesting that whatever happened through there last time around was very much a one-off.
It's a very slow stop for Ericsson, Sauber is struggling to get his left-front wheel on.
Hamilton still seems to have everything under control out front. He's edged the lead up to 2.5s over Rosberg now, so he's under little threat at the moment.
Hulkenberg and Ericsson make their second stops.
Vettel is only 6.8s ahead of Raikkonen now, and sliding back from Rosberg.
Massa got Nasr back in the stop too, as all three squeezed through the pit exit.
Great Lotus stop - it leapfrogs Maldonado ahead of both Massa and Nasr in that simultaneous triple pitstop.
Vettel's had a poor middle sector - losing a second to the Mercedes drivers.
Bottas tells Williams he won't make his target stint-length on his set of tyres at current wear rates.
Top four:

1 Hamilton
2 Rosberg +2.1
3 Vettel +4.3
4 Raikkonen +12.4 (on mediums)
Nasr is all over Massa for 10th and manages to outmuscle the Williams. Both then make their second stops, as does Maldonado.
McLaren-watch: Alonso is running 15th, staying clear of the delayed Toro Rossos of Sainz and Verstappen.
Raikkonen takes six tenths out of Vettel, while Hamilton continues to pull away from Rosberg in the lead.
EDD STRAW: "Massa's now lost the DRS to Hulkenberg. Getting back up into sixth place is now looking much, much less likely."
Massa's problems are helping Hulkenberg, who is unhappy with his pace but still escaping from the Williams in ninth now.
Massa is struggling, reporting damage to the rear of his Williams from an earlier brush with Maldonado.
Hamilton's lead is up to two seconds now. Vettel is hanging on to Rosberg's pace, but Raikkonen is catching them both. He's 9.1 behind Vettel now, on the harder tyre.
Comparison in the (twisty) middle sector - both Mercedes 43.4s; both Ferraris 43.3s on lap 22/57.
Fastest man, by far, in the midfield is two-stopper Perez, who is scorching up behind Maldonado for 12th on his softs.

By: Glenn Freeman, Edd Straw, Ben Anderson, Matt Beer, Lawrence Barretto

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