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Formula 1 Bahrain GP

2015 Bahrain Grand Prix Sunday - Bahrain Grand Prix

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EDD STRAW: "Massa really needs to get past Hulkenberg as he's losing time behind him. Trouble is, Hulkenberg is not an easy person to get ahead of."
Both Mercedes post 1m38.8s. Vettel does a 39.2s, and Raikkonen can only manage a 39.1s that time. He's 9.4s behind his team-mate at the moment.
In ninth, Hulkenberg is fending off Massa and Nasr. "I'm just sliding so much, we're eating the tyres," the Force India man complains.
Bottas is back to loneliness - he's a full 7.5s clear of Ricciardo in sixth now.
Just 2.7s covers the top three at the moment. Hamilton leads Rosberg by 1.6s, with Vettel a further 1.1s adrift.
Raikkonen is flying. The top three are in the low 1m39s, it's another 1m38.6s for Raikkonen though on the mediums.
Raikkonen is the only man in the 1m38s at the moment though. So Bottas isn't going to get a look in, and the three cars ahead on softs are no match for his pace either at the moment.
Williams urges Bottas, who is on the softer tyre, to have a crack at Raikkonen for fourth place in this stint. The Finns are 2s apart.
That basically confirms that Perez is going for a two-stop.
Perez asks Force India how hard he can push this new set of tyre. The team tells him to play it cool as it needs 20 laps out of them.
EDD STRAW: "Bottas is setting a very good pace in this stint. He's lapping at a similar pace to the leaders, and was the quickest car on track last time round."
Rest of field:

11 Nasr
12 Maldonado
13 Perez
14 Kvyat
15 Alonso
16 Sainz
17 Verstappen
18 Stevens
19 Merhi
Hamilton leads by 1.4s, while Vettel is nearly 3s behind Rosberg in the fight for second. Raikkonen is 13s back - but it will be interesting to see if he comes back into play later on.
Order after stops:

1 Hamilton
2 Rosberg
3 Vettel
4 Raikkonen
5 Bottas
6 Ricciardo
7 Grosjean
8 Ericsson
9 Hulkenberg
10 Massa
A very close battle between Alonso and Kvyat, with the Red Bull squeezing past the McLaren.
EDD STRAW: "Back to Massa-watch. He's going to move into the top 10 for the first time in a moment, when Perez makes his stop."
Potential two-stopper Perez finally makes his first pitstop from fifth place on lap 17.
Raikkonen rejoins just ahead of soft-shod Bottas. Ferrari will be hoping that the Williams doesn't interfere with his alternate strategy.
"Brakes are a concern," Rosberg is told on the radio. No wonder - he keeps having to slam them on to overtake Ferraris into Turn 1.
Raikkonen pits - he's only 10s ahead of Hamilton when he finally comes in. Ferrari gives him the medium tyre, so he's on a different strategy to the other three leaders.
Ferrari is leaving Raikkonen out at the moment, while the other three main players scrap it out having made a pitstop already.
Strong defensive driving from Vettel when Rosberg attacked him - he pushed him all the way towards the pit exit as they approached Turn 1 (and Hamilton's rejoining car).
The fact that Mercedes had to pit Rosberg first very nearly cost Hamilton the lead there. That shows how big the benefit is from pitting first.
Nothing in it between the top three now - can Hamilton get away from the two Germans behind him?
EDD STRAW: "That round of pitstops has shown us how powerful the undercut is here. Rosberg and Vettel have also gained a huge amount of time on Hamilton. That will make the next round of stops interesting."
Only a 3.7s stop for Hamilton, who rejoins the track as Rosberg dives past Vettel right behind him into Turn 1. A great piece of drama that all happened right in Hamilton's mirrors.
Kvyat is next in for his first pitstop. Perez is still staying out and is up to fifth.
Hamilton pits. None of what's going on behind should trouble him - he had nearly six seconds on the field before the stops started.
Ericsson is next to pass Hulkenberg, with Massa lurking behind them.
"Attack him now on fresh tyres," Mercedes tells Rosberg. Given his pace advantage, it should be a matter of time before he gets back ahead.
Success for Ferrari - Vettel is back ahead of Rosberg.
Bottas and Ricciardo make their first pitstops from what had become fourth and fifth.
EDD STRAW: "Sensible of Mercedes to bring Rosberg in before Hamilton, he's nowhere near close enough to jump the leader with an undercut, so was a wise move."
Softs for Rosberg - Ferrari tells Vettel that the Mercedes has come in.
Incredible amount of sparks as Grosjean took to the bumpy inside of the track to make his move on Hulkenberg.
Mercedes responds by pitting Rosberg first.
Grosjean quickly retakes Hulkenberg into Turn 1. Ericsson is now having a crack at the Force India.
"Push now, push now" is the obvious radio message to Vettel.
Of the 'best of the rest' group, only Bottas, Ricciardo, Perez and Kvyat are yet to pit.

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

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