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Formula 1
Spanish GP
2015 Spanish Grand Prix Sunday - Spanish Grand Prix
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The right-side pillar of Maldonado's Lotus wing had been dangling at an awkward angle and it's now been taken right off by the team.
That lap from Hamilton has him 2s behind Vettel now, and he's making more gains next time around.
Maldonado is back in the pits for a look at that wobbly rear wing. It looks like Lotus has wrenched a section off and sent him back out.
EDD STRAW: "Sainz has done the same as his team-mate and switched to hards. The race pace of the Toro Rossos has been a little disappointing so far - not as strong as Lotus."
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Red Bull tells Ricciardo about Maldonado's rear wing damage. "He may struggle, get into him," they urge the Australian.
Stopwatch
Fastest lap for a fired-up Hamilton - 1m31.033s.
Grosjean rose to sixth as others ahead pitted, but he now comes in.
A 2.5s stop for Rosberg is easily enough for him to emerge way clear of Vettel and Hamilton.
Raikkonen hasn't stopped (Bottas has), so the second Ferrari now leads the race.
Raikkonen hasn't stopped (Bottas has), so the second Ferrari now leads the race.
EDD STRAW: "Interestingly, Verstappen switched to hard-compound Pirellis at that stop. So he's getting the slower tyre out of the way now. That could mean he makes some progress in the final stint."
In the battle of the Finns, Bottas still has 2s over Raikkonen in what is effectively P4.
Rosberg's lead was over 7s before the stops started, so he had a big gap to work with to protect his lead.
"Box box box" Rosberg is told.
Sainz also comes in from a temporary 10th.
Massa and Maldonado pit from fifth and seventh places.
2.3s stop for Vettel, 3s quicker than Hamilton's, and he rejoins ahead of the Mercedes despite Hamilton having that extra lap on fresh tyres.
Maldonado has been carrying rear wing damage through this race so far and it's looking worse now. That car must be very hard to drive.
Vettel pits to cover P2.
EDD STRAW: "That's a disaster for Hamilton. Mercedes brought him in to undercut Vettel, but he's lost several seconds with that problem in the stop. Vettel should now be able to pit and re-emerge ahead. More good news for Rosberg."
Hamilton makes easy work of Maldonado into Turn 5 - the Lotus doesn't fight it, sensibly. But surely that's any chance of jumping Vettel now lost?
Ricciardo and Verstappen make their first pitstops as well.
The Mercedes rejoins - on new mediums - behind Maldonado's Lotus. Without the delay he'd have been ahead of him.
It's a slow stop - 5.3s - with a problem at the left rear for Hamilton.
Hamilton is told to do the opposite to Vettel, and that means he's in at the end of lap 13.
EDD STRAW: "Maldonado has had a decent start to the race. He's up into seventh and lapping at a decent speed. Given the pace of the cars in front, right now that's as good as it is likely to get for a Lotus."
Rosberg's lead over Vettel is now 7.6s, so if Hamilton clears the Ferrari he's going to have some work to do to hunt down his team-mate.
Nasr's Sauber joins the early pit visitors.
Hamilton 0.3s behind Vettel into Turn 1. But the Ferrari still doesn't need to defend - he can just focus on hitting his marks around the rest of the lap.
"It's hammer time," is the call from Mercedes.
"It's hammer time," is the call from Mercedes.
EDD STRAW: "This race is a reminder that having the DRS is no guarantee of making a pass at the Barcelona circuit. While we have seen some moves, Hamilton can't get close enough to use it to attack Vettel. He's now eight seconds behind Rosberg, which should mean that, even if he were to get past, this is his team-mate's race."
DRS helps Hamilton get to +0.4s into Turn 1, but again, he has to struggle through the seemingly endless Turn 3.
After all those early overtaking moves, Maldonado seems to have reached his limit in seventh. He's falling away from Massa ahead.
Ricciardo sails past Verstappen for eighth... and past the Turn 1 braking point too. The Toro Rosso is back through.
Sure enough, by being that close to the Ferrari's rear wing, Hamilton's front tyres start crying enough and he's back to +0.8s to the Ferrari after the first sector.
Hulkenberg makes the race's first pitstop from 17th on lap 10 of 66.
Hamilton is well and truly in DRS range now. He's half a second back - the closest he has been at any stage during these first 10 laps.
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Mercedes tells Rosberg he's going to run until, "stint or stint plus one." Sounds like he's sticking to a two-stopper.
Now Hamilton has fallen slightly further back from Vettel, and he's not hitting the dirty air quite so much, he proves he is capable of lapping fractionally quicker than the Ferrari.
Rosberg's 6.1s lead means he has almost the entire backstraight between him and Vettel now.
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"We're thinking of plan B," Mercedes tells Hamilton. Could that be a three-stop strategy? He responds positively as he still can't get close enough to pass Vettel.
Lap nine and a grumpy Hamilton has again fallen out of DRS range to Vettel.
Rosberg's lead is up to 5.4s now. Vettel has nothing for him at the moment.
By: Matt Beer, Lawrence Barretto, Edd Straw, Glenn Freeman, Alex Kalinauckas
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