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Formula 1 Bahrain GP

2015 Bahrain Grand Prix Sunday - Bahrain Grand Prix

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EDD STRAW: "And Ferrari has done just that. Now, do Mercedes let Rosberg pit before Hamilton in order to defend, as happened in China at the second stops?"
Alonso makes his first pitstop.
"The tyres are dying, I cannot do more," declares fifth-placed Bottas.
It's another set of softs for Ferrari, which blinks before Mercedes in the battle up front.
EDD STRAW: "Everything we've seen so far says that Ferrari isn't fast enough in race conditions to challenge Mercedes. But Vettel is potentially close enough to undercut his way back past Rosberg so they should get him in now."
Vettel pits at the start of lap 14.
Grosjean is next to pit in the points battle, rejoining behind Hulkenberg, who jumped him with that earlier stop.
Hamilton still pulling away from Rosberg - the gap is up to 5.8s at the moment.
Rosberg was 0.9s slower than Hamilton on that lap, and the Ferraris are back on his case. However, now he's having a clean lap again he appears to be edging away again.
Ericsson and Sainz (another man with a penalty to take) come in on lap 11 as the midfield stops continue.
A very close call between Hulkenberg and Nasr in the pitlane there. Maldonado takes his five-second penalty in his stop.
EDD STRAW: "The Mercedes drivers were around eight-tenths faster than Vettel last time round. Pace of that car is showing."
Raikkonen is sat just inside DRS range of Vettel at the moment, but he's by no means all over the rear wing of his team-mate.
Rosberg has already given himself a two-second cushion over the Ferraris, but he will be more concerned with the 5.3s gap to Hamilton. That's the sort of gap the world champion will probably fancy himself to maintain with a decent bit of clear air.
Hulkenberg makes his first pitstop from eighth place. Nasr, Massa and Maldonado are all diving in too. It's the end of lap 10.
Alonso, Maldonado and Kvyat are all keeping up with 13th-placed Massa as he chases Nasr and Sainz ahead.
Perez makes it past Sainz for 10th.
"I think I can go a bit faster," says Raikkonen, who clearly fancies getting past Vettel.
EDD STRAW: "Ferrari might want to have a punt at trying to extend the first stint of one of its drivers now - presumably Raikkonen given Vettel seems be be struggling a bit. Not sure that will be of much help later in the race though."
Hamilton, meanwhile, has five seconds on Rosberg at the moment.
In the Manor battle, Stevens is two seconds clear of Merhi, with Verstappen hunting both down after that stop for repairs.
Vettel is struggling at the moment. He's now got team-mate Raikkonen on his tail, and using DRS, as Rosberg eases away from the red cars.
Rosberg is told that once he is clear of the Ferraris, he needs to perform a little bit of tyre management. "We're going longer than target [for the first stop]".
More loneliness developing in the top six: Ricciardo is pulling away from Grosjean for sixth but can't keep up with Bottas ahead.
EDD STRAW: "Hamilton is probably home free now. Vettel is now not close enough to allow the aggressive early stop having lost several seconds."
Vettel moved over to cover the Mercedes, but he had no answer to the DRS-assisted Mercedes.
Despite that exhortation from Force India, Perez is still unable to get past Sainz for 10th.
One lap later, Rosberg repeats his trick from earlier by lunging up the inside of the Ferrari to take second place.
The German got it wrong into Turn 1 and ran very wide - no wonder Rosberg got a look at him.
Though Massa has got past him (and set off after Nasr), Alonso is still fending off Maldonado and Kvyat for 14th.
EDD STRAW: "Rosberg is really doing his job for Mercedes here. Hassling Vettel is definitely helping Hamilton."
Vettel's had a messy lap - he's lost a lot of time somewhere.
Rosberg has a big look at Vettel into Turn 4, but he gets pinched on the apex.
Bottas is pretty lonely in fifth already, with a good gap back to Ricciardo, Grosjean, Hulkenberg and Ericsson.
Vettel seems to be holding the gap at 2.1s on this lap - or is it in fact Hamilton who is controlling that margin right now?
Force India tells Perez that Sainz is "hurting" is race. Perez is currently tucked up behind the Toro Rosso in 11th.
EDD STRAW: "Vettel sitting two seconds behind Hamilton. Next move for Ferrari is to make the aggressive early first stop. Could go as early as in six laps time potentially but somewhere around the lap 14 mark would probably be the most likely for Ferrari."
Massa overtakes Alonso for 13th, though the McLaren is trying to fight back.
Maldonado has also been given a five-second penalty for his out-of-position start. He's running 15th right now.

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

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