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Belgian GP
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Ferrari has informed Vettel that Hamilton is saving tyres. The gap between them is up to 3.6s again.
Magnussen now pits, elevating Ocon back into the top six.
Pit stop
Verstappen now makes his pitstop from third. He'll easily rejoin still third unless this goes really badly.
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Those pitstops have brought Bottas up to fourth - how long will he stay out, and how many cars can he leap by doing so?
Perez rejoins fifth on softs, as Gasly also stops for softs. He comes out 11th behind Toro Rosso team-mate Hartley.
Perez makes his pitstop and rejoins fifth, with Magnussen between him and team-mate Ocon.
Radio Comms
Hamilton is hinting on team radio that the soft tyres are already not feeling good.
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Stopwatch
Vettel is now rebuilding that lead - a new fastest lap of 1m46.644s bring him 2.4s clear of Hamilton.
Radio Comms
"Use everything from the tyre" Perez is told. Pitstop time for the other Force India coming up.
Bottas has seven seconds to make up on Ocon, but the Force India pits, promoting Bottas to fifth now.
Stroll has also been in. The Williams take supersofts and falls to 14th.
Soft tyres for Grosjean and he rejoins 10th.
Bottas is into the top six now as Grosjean pits out of his way.
Sainz has been into the pits for supersofts. He drops to 15th.
Pitting earlier and banging in that great out-lap allowed Hamilton to reduce Vettel's lead from 3.3s to 1.7s. Into the second half of the race now with them both on softs.
Hamilton passes the yet-to-stop Verstappen before Les Combes and sets off after Vettel.
Hamilton caught Verstappen at the end of his out-lap, did that cost him? Possibly not, his final sector was still the race's best.
Vettel is out still in front!
A smooth stop for Vettel and he's back out on softs.
Pit stop
Vettel dives into the pits, does he have enough of a margin to resist this Hamilton undercut pace?
Bottas has demoted Magnussen now. Next target: Grosjean and the top six.
Stopwatch
Hamilton does the fastest middle sector of the day so far on his out-lap...
Ferrari tells Vettel he'll be in next time around.
Hamilton is the first of the top two to pit. He takes soft tyres and comes out third, in clear air between Verstappen and Perez.
Radio Comms
Red Bull tells Verstappen his pace is "good" and encourages him to "keep doing what you're doing". He's fallen to 14.5s off Hamilton now but is 16s clear of Perez. Verstappen adds that he's protecting the rear tyres.
Bottas is homing in on Magnussen's Haas now. Won't be long before the Mercedes is up into the top seven surely.
Radio Comms
"Let us know about tyres when you can, Lewis," asks Mercedes. "Tyres are good!" he replies. But not good enough to get his gap to Vettel below 3.2s right now.
Radio Comms
Bottas is told he has "a single blister line" on his left rear tyre but grip "still looks good".
Hamilton is slightly quicker again as they begin lap 20, but the gap stubbornly reminds around 3.3s whatever he does.
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Bottas demotes Gasly now too, so that's eighth. Still a long way to go to get to Verstappen, but fourth is easily doable for Bottas in this race.
Around the whole lap, Hamilton was a couple of tenths quicker than Vettel last year. The gap is now 3.4s from first to second.
Radio Comms
Sauber tells Ericsson to "use Bottas to try to pass Gasly". Easier said than done...
Just to emphasise that there's not a lot to choose between the leaders' pace, Vettel and Hamilton set identical middle sectors.
Bottas uses DRS to zoom past Ericsson on Kemmel Straight. That's ninth now for Bottas.
Radio Comms
Ricciardo is struggling. He's a second per lap slower than Verstappen and says it's difficult to get more out of his car.
Stopwatch
Vettel replies to Hamilton's fastest lap with a new fastest lap, which Hamilton then beats... the gap is now 3.6s.
By: Geoff Creighton
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