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Formula 1 Australian GP

Australian Grand Prix race day

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Vettel has woken up suddenly. New fastest lap for the Ferrari man. He's 4.1s off the lead now.
So Magnussen in fourth now has a 2.5s cushion to the Grosjean/Ricciardo battle behind. Verstappen has a 1.8s gap to catch seventh-placed Hulkenberg.
Radio Comms
"Just make sure you're sensible now," Red Bull urges Verstappen after that spin. "Look after the tyres."
He drops to eighth. disaster for the Red Bull ace.
Lost the rear under braking at Turn 1.
Crash
Spin for Verstappen!
Raikkonen has responded to Hamilton upping the pace with a new fastest lap to peg the gap at 2.6s.
Ricciardo is now all over Grosjean.
Radio Comms
Verstappen is now instructed to "save your overtake for the one place Magnussen is vulnerable". Red Bull has clearly worked out a strategy to get past. Can Verstappen execute before this race gets away from him completely?
Bottas makes it up the inside of Ocon into Turn 3 and claims 13th place.
Hamilton pumps in a fast final sector to get the lead out to more than 2.5s over Raikkonen.
After his first-lap pitstop, soft-shod Hartley is 13s off the back of the field in 18th. Replays of the start suggested a massive Turn 1 lock-up might've prompted that tyre change.
Bottas is right on the back of Ocon for 13th now.
Radio Comms
"The tyres are coming really hot," reports Verstappen.
Information
Out of the race: Ericsson, Sirotkin
Information
Outside the points: 11 Vandoorne; 12 Perez; 13 Ocon; 14 Bottas; 15 Stroll; 16 Gasly; 17 Leclerc; 18 Hartley
Information
Order: 1 Hamilton; 2 Raikkonen; 3 Vettel; 4 Magnussen; 5 Verstappen; 6 Grosjean; 7 Ricciardo; 8 Hulkenberg; 9 Sainz; 10 Alonso
Verstappen is losing around a second per lap stuck behind Magnussen.
Ericsson seems set to retire, he's into the Sauber garage now.
Bottas is starting to make progress, he's past Stroll into 14th.
Crash
Sounds like Ericsson is reporting a loss of power steering. He drops a couple of places then pits.
Radio Comms
Red Bull's verdict on Ricciardo's move past Hulkenberg for seventh: "nice job mate".
New fastest lap for Hamilton gets the gap out to 1.9s over Raikkonen. Verstappen is now handed full power to try to pass Magnussen. Max is nearly eight seconds off the lead already.
Crash
Trouble for Sirotkin - he goes straight on down an escape road and radios to say he had no brakes. He's the first retirement of F1 2018.
Ricciardo goes for it - he dives past Hulkenberg into Turn 13 from miles back to take seventh. Hulkenberg fights back but Ricciardo claims the place on the outside at the next corner.
Magnussen had a reputation for strong first laps last season but was always too far back to make a big impression. Great effort to steal around the outside of Verstappen while the Red Bull was faffing around behind the Ferraris at the start.
Raikkonen is absolutely matching Hamilton for speed early on - a great start to this race for the Ferrari man.
Radio Comms
"Left temperature is now approaching our comfortable maximum," Force India tells ultrasoft-shod Perez in 12th.
Cagey stuff in the midfield so far, the pack isn't really spreading out that much from Magnussen in fourth to Sirotkin in 19th.
Verstappen's hopes of using those supersoft tyres to challenge the frontrunners rests on passing the Haas as soon as he can. This was not in the script for Red Bull.
Magnussen not really under pressure from Verstappen yet, but let's see now DRS is enabled.
Radio Comms
"We could go quicker now, but just traffic," says Hulkenberg - who's behind Grosjean in seventh.
Vettel is another second further back in third.
Ricciardo hasn't gained any ground yet either, he's still down in eighth chasing Grosjean and Hulkenberg ahead.

By: Geoff Creighton

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