2015 Bahrain Grand Prix Sunday - Bahrain Grand Prix
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The gap at the front is now over two seconds for the first time - it's taken Hamilton six laps to achieve that.
Verstappen comes into the pits. He's got front wing damage from earlier contact with Maldonado.
Hamilton is told "you can probably afford to go two tenths faster".
EDD STRAW: "Massa is very much in the hunt for points. Managed to latch onto the pack almost immediately after starting from the pits. He's just got past Verstappen to run 14th. Still has the pace to climb back to sixth, but depends on how much time he loses in traffic in the pack."
Over the last three laps, Hamilton has taken a tenth of a second out of Vettel each time.
Rosberg is told "we need a little bit of brake management before you attack Vettel". He's certainly not challenging the Ferrari at the moment.
EDD STRAW: "Ferrari will be annoyed with Rosberg getting ahead of Raikkonen - having two two cars lined up behind Hamilton could have been a strategic advantage."
Hamilton's lead over Vettel is up to 1.9s as he continues to creep away at the front.
Replays show celebrations in the Ferrari garage at the start - the mood has probably cooled slightly now that Rosberg has passed Raikkonen.
Raikkonen, fortunately, sees Rosberg coming and gives the locked-up Mercedes space. The Ferrari fights back into Turn 4, but Rosberg runs him out of road on the exit to hang onto third.
Breaking news
Maldonado is being investigated by race control for being "out of position on the starting grid".
Big lunge from Rosberg on Raikkonen into Turn 1.
Hamilton already leads by 1.4s, so he's already out of DRS range. Raikkonen is 0.9 behind Vettel, and 0.8 ahead of Rosberg.
Rosberg is matching Raikkonen through each sector in the scrap for third.
Hamilton is taking chunks of time out of Vettel so far on lap two.
Williams encourages Massa that points are still possible in this race, as he carves past Kvyat.
Rest of field:
11 Perez
12 Nasr
13 Alonso
14 Verstappen
15 Kvyat
16 Maldonado
17 Massa
18 Merhi
19 Stevens
11 Perez
12 Nasr
13 Alonso
14 Verstappen
15 Kvyat
16 Maldonado
17 Massa
18 Merhi
19 Stevens
Raikkonen is 0.6 behind Vettel - Rosberg is 0.4 behind Raikkonen.
Lap 1 lead order:
1 Hamilton
2 Vettel
3 Raikkonen
4 Rosberg
5 Bottas
6 Ricciardo
7 Grosjean
8 Hulkenberg
9 Ericsson
10 Sainz
1 Hamilton
2 Vettel
3 Raikkonen
4 Rosberg
5 Bottas
6 Ricciardo
7 Grosjean
8 Hulkenberg
9 Ericsson
10 Sainz
Rosberg has a sniff at Raikkonen into Turn 1, but it was a half-hearted attempt.
Hamilton leads Vettel by 0.8s at the end of the opening lap.
Maldonado skates off onto the dust at the end of the back straight, then locks up and goes off at the next corner too.
Vettel, when defending from Rosberg, nearly ended up having a look at Hamilton for the lead into Turn 1.
The drivers were held for a very long time before the lights came on - strange.
Grosjean brakes very deep down the outside of Ricciardo for sixth at Turn 4, getting back on line without losing places.
Good start for Hamilton, Vettel defends from Rosberg into Turn 1, and Raikkonen gets around the second Mercedes for third.
Lights out
The 2015 Bahrain GP is go!
Hamilton leads the field back up to their grid slots.
Massa heads down to the pitlane exit, he'll join the field from the back.
Massa's Williams has now fired up in the pitlane.
Breaking news
Carlos Sainz Jr has now been given a five-second penalty for "exceeding the maximum time" on the recce lap to the grid.
The cars are approaching the final corner.
Massa's Williams stalled as the rest of the field got away and is now being pushed into the pitlane.
Felipe Massa is stuck on the grid.
BEN ANDERSON: "We're all hoping to see an epic Mercedes versus Ferrari battle to win this race, but it's Hamilton's to lose. He's in the fastest car and likely won't be able to afford the go-slow approach he utilised in China."
Green flag
The formation lap begins, bang on 6pm local time.
Hamilton: "Do I need to do fuel saving in the first stint?"
He's told there will be a small amount required throughout the race.
He's told there will be a small amount required throughout the race.
EDD STRAW: "Track temperature is currently 31C. So that's around 25C cooler than it was for the Malaysian GP."
Twitter
@MercedesAMGF1: "What if it's like last year... seriously. We're not sure our hearts could take it..."
hamilton rosberg
EDD STRAW: "The best strategy for this race should be a two-stopper, going soft-soft-medium. All of the top 10 start on the softs."
By: Glenn Freeman, Edd Straw, Ben Anderson, Matt Beer, Lawrence Barretto
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