Belgian Grand Prix race day
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Sauber tells Ericsson he's losing time to Gasly in Turns 1 and 13.
Ericsson's soft tyres are working well. He's homing in on Gasly and is nearly in DRS range.
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Hamilton now puts in the fastest lap of the race, a 1m48.479s, which is a couple of tenths quicker than Vettel there.
The Haas drivers are enjoying a very smooth race. Grosjean is nearly four seconds behind Ocon, Magnussen is tracking Grosjean at 3.4s and has a 2.3s gap to Gasly in eighth.
Perez is now 8.6s adrift of third-placed Verstappen but has stabilised his advantage over his chasing team-mate Ocon at 3.6s.
Bottas is not making huge strides but is closing gradually on Ericsson's Sauber. Those supersoft tyres might be starting to give up the ghost on the Mercedes.
Hamilton has pegged Vettel's escape a little but the gap between the two leaders reamins 3.8s on lap 14 of 44. One-third distance already!
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Mercedes updates Hamilton on Verstappen's lap times behind him. It's good news for the championship leader: Verstappen is dropping away and is now 11.5s adrift of second.
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Asked how the car's balance is, Verstappen replies "it's actually quite nice to drive. It's under control".
Red Bull boss Christian Horner suggests Bottas is a threat to Verstappen's podium position in this race, with such a long way still to go.
After losing fourth to Verstappen, Ocon briefly lost momentum and fell towards the Haas pair but he's now back up to speed and is closing what's currently a 3.1s gap to team-mate Perez.
Bottas breezes past Sirotkin on the Kemmel Straight to rise into the top 10.
Though he's up to third, Verstappen is 10.3s behind Hamilton. Let's see if he can make any headway...
Vettel keeps smashing in fastest laps and is now 3.7s clear of Hamilton in the lead after 11 laps.
Bottas up to 11th now after demoting Stroll. One more place to make it back into the points for the Mercedes driver.
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Alonso says Hulkenberg came at "300km/h and hit us, then we played bowling with the rest of the grid. It's difficult to understand how you can miss the braking point so much".
Ericsson has finally asserted himself over Sirotkin in that battle for ninth - two seconds clear now.
Verstappen closes right in on Perez, the Force India defends to the inside, and Verstappen sweeps ahead on the outside line before the braking area. Into third for Verstappen.
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Raikkonen has had problems with his DRS being open too.
Verstappen is now right with Perez. Will the pass come into Les Combes again?
Ferrari wheels him back into the garage. He's been concerned about structural damage since the first lap.
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Raikkonen is into the pits for a third time.
Here's how close the top four were racing towards Les Combes on lap one, captured by Motorsport Images
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Bottas homes in like a missile on Sainz along the Kemmel Straight and passes easily for 12th.
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With Ocon cleared, Verstappen is now rapidly catching Perez and is within DRS range of the other Force India for third.
Raikkonen has been back into the pits. The Ferrari driver's day is going from bad to worse.
Replays show Bottas passing Hartley 'Webber-Alonso style' on the inside of Eau Rouge. He's up to 13th now and charging.
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Up front, Vettel continues to storm away - he's now 2.4s clear of Hamilton on lap seven.
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"Nice job, Max," Red Bull tells its man.
Ocon defends the inside at Les Combes, Verstappen dummies to the outside, Ocon moves to cover and Verstappen muscles through into fourth place.
Sirotkin and Ericsson are having a ding-dong battle for ninth and trading places on consecutive laps.
Sainz has passed Hartley for 12th.
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By: Geoff Creighton
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