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Formula 1 Spanish GP

F1 Spanish GP Live Commentary and Updates - Race day

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12

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Pit stop
Hamilton's pitting! A switch to a two-stopper for Hamilton there, taking on some slightly used mediums.
Pit stop

A few more midfield runners pitting for a second time - Stroll, Vettel and Giovinazzi - which duly shuffles them all to the back of pack, but ahead of Mazepin.

Perez has a look around the outside of Ricciardo, but doesn't have enough in the tank to make the move. Ricciardo hanging onto fifth still - but gets told not to weave on the straight.
Very much trading blows at the front here - whatever Hamilton does, Verstappen does the next lap.
Pit stop

Alfa Romeo put Kimi out of his misery by pitting him on lap 38, with the Finn coming back out in P17, six seconds behind his team-mate. But on fresh soft tyres, it is payback time.

No disrespect to Raikkonen here, but he has become a midfield chicane as the only driver on the alternate strategy, and loses places to Ocon and Norris without much trouble.

Hamilton has another tilt with DRS, but again can't quite find enough purchase to mount an assault on Verstappen at the start of lap 38.
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"I feel like the wind is picking up," Russell says over team radio. Given the peaky aero traits his Williams car has, that's not good news for him.
Hamilton gets DRS on Verstappen, but just doesn't quite have enough legs to have a look into Turn 1.

Mazepin has been shown the blue flags twice in quick succession, again, so will be in the spotlight but this time he avoids holding up the leaders too much.

Hamilton's within a second of Verstappen now, as Bottas gets a little bit of a hurry-up if he wants to have a shot at second in this race.
Ricciardo's fending off Perez now, hoping to keep hold of fifth place. The Mexican's getting closer, but the Aussie driver is doing a spot of tow-breaking on the straight.

Russell has also pitted for a second time, so both Williams are on a two-stopper, which has allowed Gasly and Giovinazzi to move ahead on the track.

Stopwatch
Hamilton did a 1m21.204s last time out, and has taken another second out of Verstappen on this lap.

Raikkonen's surge up the order when others pitted is now swinging back on strategy as he loses places to Ricciardo, Perez and Sainz is quick succession. But the Finn will be one to watch later in the race. 

Raikkonen's hanging onto eighth on his aged tyres - the 41-year-old continuing to evade the clutches of the glue factory by showing he's still got pace.
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"See if you can follow Lewis and catch Verstappen," Riccardo Musconi tells Bottas. Don't encourage him too much, now - we saw what happened last weekend.
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"Issue with the engine. Spark plug maybe?" Alonso asks over his Alpine team radio. He's told that his team is managing the issue.

Leclerc concedes third to Bottas, but has plenty of clear air around him in fourth place.
And Hamilton now pits, collecting fresh medium boots on a presumed one-stop strategy here - a 2.7s stop. He rejoins in second, as Leclerc also pits.
Pit stop

Latifi has pitted for a second time - so looks to be opting for the two-stop strategy unless he had an issue. Meanwhile Raikkonen keeps on going on his mediums and is up to P5.

Verstappen's about a second-a-lap faster than Hamilton at the moment, as the Red Bull was slowed down by a late-arriving rear left. But Hamilton's going deeper into the race to preserve some tyre life later on.
Kinda cool to hear the pitwall radio to race control - that's a nice touch.
"Mikey, blue flags," - Wolff says over the radio to the FIA race director Michael Masi, as Hamilton struggles to clear Mazepin.
Pit stop
Perez moves out of the way to let Verstappen pass, giving the lead Red Bull some clear track. Meanwhile, Ricciardo comes in to pit.
Pit stop
Hamilton is right on Verstappen's tail now, which arguably forces the Dutchman into pitting. That's not a vintage Red Bull stop at all at 4.2s, and that might help Hamilton massively.

Plenty of pitstops for the rest so the running order is cycling through. Raikkonen, as the only driver to start the race on the mediums, is the outlier in the midfield yet to pit.

Pit stop
Bottas comes in to stop from fourth place, to rejoin in clean air and try to grab an undercut on Leclerc.

It takes a lap for Vettel to get back ahead of Gasly so after being tucked up behind Alonso before the stops he is now around three seconds back.

Pit stop

But here's some action as Alonso and Vettel pit together. Alpine win that battle with a stop 1.5s faster than Aston Martin, which costs Vettel as he comes out behind Gasly while Alonso is already attacking Mazepin ahead.

Apart from the shuffles at the back of the pack it is as you were in the midfield. That is partly down to strategy and partly down to the nature of the Barcelona track - nobody said overtaking is easy here.

Hamilton's asked for some front wing to be taken out to try and reduce the pointiness of the Mercedes and help the tyres out a bit. He's lost a couple of tenths to Verstappen that time around.
Pit stop

Gasly pits to serve his penalty and take on fresh mediums. He's back out in P19 but at least that's the dose of pain dealt with for the AlphaTauri team.

Hamilton's tyres look pretty beaten-up - a band of wear on the right-rear and a front-left that looks a little frayed too.

After losing time through no fault of his own in the pits, Giovinazzi has started his recovery drive by getting ahead of Mazepin. Schumacher is up next but then it is the Williams who pitted with him under the safety car.

"We are thinking Plan B, Plan B," Leclerc is told over the radio. Is that in terms of pit strategy, or for the post-race playlist?
Leclerc has broken free of Bottas' DRS clutches, so he's got less pressure in third for the time being.

Further back Russell and Latifi, both on fresh mediums, have already cleared Schumacher and Mazepin to climb up to P15 and P16 respectively.

Gasly will have to serve that penalty when he pits so that'll wreck any early progress he makes in this race. He is currently tucked up behind Vettel in 12th.

Hamilton's now trying to get back into DRS range of Verstappen, having just fallen out of the second's range to open up his wing.

By: Jake Boxall-Legge, Haydn Cobb, Tom Howard

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