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Formula 1 Spanish GP

2015 Spanish Grand Prix Sunday - Spanish Grand Prix

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Rosberg is told to pit. This will give Hamilton - who is probably stopping one more time - a narrow lead.
Sainz's pit delay means he's now running behind Hulkenberg as well as Verstappen. They're in 11th to 13th.
A replay of Sainz's pitstop shows he had a delay on the left rear.
Vettel is 14.5s behind Hamilton, and he's 0.6s slower than the Mercedes.
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Hamilton is told to target, "1m30.7s" now he is in free air.
A much bigger gap between the Mercedes laptimes - 31.7s for Rosberg, 30.4s for Hamilton. Gap is 23s.
Grosjean has caught Kvyat for ninth and storms around the outside at Turn 1 to regain the place his pit miscue cost him.
Sainz comes in at the end of lap 43. He's run a lot further than team-mate and final point rival Verstappen.
Vettel's first lap on the hards is a tenth slower than Hamilton, and a tenth faster than Rosberg.
Ricciardo makes his final pitstop from seventh. Grosjean's delay eases the very little pressure that was on him.
EDD STRAW: "Hamilton's pace, on 10-lap old hards, is very similar to Rosberg's on 27-lap old mediums. Two-tenths faster last time round."
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"Blue flags!" yells Hamilton as he fights his way through traffic.
Raikkonen comes in after that middle stint on hards. He takes on a set of mediums.
Replays show Grosjean did indeed overshoot, sending his front jackman flying backwards - though he never let go of the jack!
Grosjean looks like he's now overshot the Lotus pit. A very slow stop for the eighth-place man.
Hamilton is 25.2s behind leader Rosberg, having stopped once more at this stage. And their pace is pretty similar.
It's the end of lap 40 and Vettel comes in for a set of hards. 26 laps to go.
Nasr now pits, giving Ericsson the clear air he wanted.
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"We're being compromised!" cries Ericsson as he battles to get past his team-mate Nasr. The team reassures him it's just for one lap.
Sauber is doing its best to raise entertainment levels: Ericsson has caught Nasr for 11th, is trying hard to pass, and complaining on the radio.
Vettel's pace is nowhere at the moment as he continues to stretch out this stint:

1 Rosberg
2 Vettel +15.0s
3 Hamilton +25.3s
4 Bottas +27.4s
5 Raikkonen +38.7s
6 Massa +54.8s
EDD STRAW: "This has been a disappointing race for McLaren-Honda. The aim was to fight for points and not be lapped, which hasn't really worked out at all."
Kvyat pits from ninth and rejoins on hards.
Hamilton crossed the line 11.4s behind Vettel, with a laptime that was 1.5s faster.
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Hamilton's dash might be giving him misleading fuel information. "It doesn't look good at the moment," he warns. The team tells him he is safe and to just ignore it.
Bottas managed to hold on for lap 38, but Hamilton has DRS this time and he gets alongside into Turn 1 to take the place with the inside line.
Verstappen pits from 10th place. That should help him in the battle with Sainz - he both gains an undercut and doesn't have to move aside to be lapped by the leaders.
EDD STRAW: "Raikkonen's pace is holding up well on the hards relative to those on mediums. He's 12.5s behind Bottas and starting to chip away now."
Rosberg continues to cruise away from Vettel, and now leads by 12.8s.
EDD STRAW: "Hamilton is now 16.4s behind Vettel - but Ferrari is holding firm on a two-stop plan. Interesting to see how much trouble - or not - Hamilton has from Bottas when he catches him shortly."
Perez pits on lap 37, that elevates Maldonado and Hulkenberg to 14th and 15th.
Hamilton is taking nearly 3s per lap out of Bottas, so he'll catch him on the next lap for third place.
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It sounds like it won't be too long before Rosberg is in the pits again: "Push hard now, Nico. It won't be long," the team tells him.
Rosberg leads Vettel by 11.3s out front. Vettel has dropped into the 1m33s now, while Hamilton is doing 1m30s.
Midfield:

11 Sainz
12 Nasr
13 Ericsson
14 Perez
15 Maldonado
16 Hulkenberg
17 Button
18 Stevens
19 Merhi
Out: Alonso
Hamilton doesn't have to stop again, but he'd have to do nearly half the race on these hard tyres if he's to get to the end.
Order on lap 35:

1 Rosberg
2 Vettel
3 Bottas
4 Hamilton (pitted)
5 Raikkonen
6 Massa (pitted)
7 Ricciardo
8 Grosjean
9 Kvyat
10 Verstappen
Vettel still not stopping, and he gets radio message saying "we think Hamilton is going three stops". So that's why Ferrari hasn't responded, it seems.
In the midfield, two-stopping Perez is being very rapidly caught by three-stoppers Maldonado and Hulkenberg for 14th.

By: Matt Beer, Lawrence Barretto, Edd Straw, Glenn Freeman, Alex Kalinauckas

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