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Formula 1 Spanish GP

2015 Spanish Grand Prix Sunday - Spanish Grand Prix

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That was a slower lap for Rosberg, who falls into the 1m32s and is now 6.4s ahead of the chasing Vettel and Hamilton.
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Mercedes have been advising their drivers on managing their power units. "Save the engine for later on," they tell Hamilton while Rosberg is told, "fuel is now very safe, continue tyre saving but you can burn more fuel."
EDD STRAW: "Raikkonen is out of synch with the leaders in fifth place as he's on the hard tyre. His pace is decent, although inevitably he is losing ground to fourth-placed Bottas. But the pair should start to converge again in the final stint when Bottas is on the hards and Raikkonen on the mediums. Ferrari probably chose to do this because Raikkonen wasn't able to get close to the Williams in the first stint."
Vettel has used 1.5L more fuel than Hamilton over the first 24 laps of the race.
Bottas is nearly 10s behind the Vettel/Hamilton fight now. He's got 8.1s on Raikkonen, who is lapping slower on the harder tyre at the moment. We'll have to wait until later in the race, when the Williams has to take the hard tyre, to see how that battle of the Finns shakes out.
Alonso has rejoined in 14th place after his stop, right in front of fellow alternative strategy runners Ericsson and Perez.
Kvyat ticks off the second Toro Rosso - diving past Verstappen for ninth into Turn 1.
Vettel posts a personal best lap, although it's 0.1s slower than Rosberg who leads by 6.7s.
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"Lift when you use the bad gear. You will blow the engine up if you don't!" A slightly exasperated Lotus team tell Grosjean.
Vettel exits the final corner with a margin of 0.8s, and Hamilton has that down to 0.4s by the end of the start/finish straight.
Maldonado in the other Lotus is now running 18th and catching Button for 17th despite the missing chunk of rear wing.
With Alonso in, Ricciardo and Grosjean's limping Lotus move up to seventh and eighth.
More DRS for Hamilton on the backstraight, but crucially he needs to stay close through the twisty final sector.
Alonso now makes his first pitstop from seventh on lap 21 of 66. A two-stop is doable.
Rosberg responds to the pace behind with a new personal best lap.
Hamilton doesn't get quite as good a run into Turn 1 that time, so Vettel has it covered for another lap.
After falling into a lonely zone in the opening stint, Massa is having a stronger run. He's got to within 2.3s of Raikkonen for fifth.
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Grosjean reports a problem with fourth gear. "We're having a look," reply the team.
This Vettel/Hamilton fight is edging them closer to Rosberg. They are just over six seconds behind the leader now - but Rosberg has some space to play with.
Alonso is being caught for seventh by Ricciardo at a rapid rate, but is doing OK for pace relative to the midfield three-stoppers.
EDD STRAW: "Vettel will be focusing on getting good traction out of the chicane as he should be able to keep Hamilton at bay around the rest of the lap. Just needs to keep him at arm's length in the DRS zone."
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Ferrari has encouraging words for Raikkonen: "You're matching the Williams. Give me a stint like Bahrain middle stint and it's looking very good."
Hamilton has his first proper look into Turn 1, but he's not quite close enough to force Vettel to defend.
Vettel is really struggling in the long corners on this stint. Hamilton is all over him.
EDD STRAW: "Hamilton is having a proper go at Vettel now - needs to make something stick soon otherwise he will pay the price of running too closely behind in terms of tyre deg. Main straight next time round should be the best chance."
That's the closest Hamilton has got to Vettel into Turn 1. He had half a look. And, unlike in the first stint, Hamilton isn't losing out around the rest of the lap as much. Maybe he's decided it's time to get it done after all.
Lead order:

1 Rosberg
2 Vettel
3 Hamilton
4 Bottas
5 Raikkonen
6 Massa
7 Alonso (yet to stop)
8 Perez (yet to stop)
9 Ricciardo
10 Grosjean
Maybe not. Hamilton is +0.8s now to Vettel so it's DRS time.
Ericsson makes his first pitstop of lap 18 of 66 from ninth. Alonso and Perez remain out in seventh and eighth.
And as things stand Hamilton still isn't in DRS range of Vettel. Perhaps he doesn't want to get too close at this stage after spending that first stint suffering in the dirty air.
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"Don't talk to me through the corners," says the increasingly fractious Hamilton to his engineer.
Sainz's tumble down the order continues as Kvyat's Red Bull passes him for 13th place.
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"You will have to pass Vettel on track," Mercedes tells Hamilton. "I can assure you that's pretty much impossible. Find another solution," he responds tetchily.
Bottas flies by as Raikkonen rejoins after a 3.1s stop, having switched to hard tyres. So Raikkonen is indeed trying something a bit different here.
EDD STRAW: "While that part of Maldonado's wing isn't there in itself to create downforce, its absence will make the car tricky to drive as it will have a big effect on the airflow at the rear wing and around the back of the car. Aerodynamically, everything is inter-connected. It should also make the main plane of the rear wing more unstable."
And here comes Raikkonen, who seems to be trying something different to Bottas.
Vettel is 8.7s behind Rosberg, so the effective race leader continues to strengthen his position.
Raikkonen (yet to stop) leads Rosberg by 3.2s.
Alonso has yet to pit and has moved up to seventh place. Also still out and moving up: Ericsson and Perez in eighth and ninth.
Hamilton closes to 1.3s behind Vettel. He'll be in DRS range next time around at this rate.

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

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