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Formula 1
Spanish GP
F1 Spanish GP Live Updates - Race day
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A challenge for position! That's woken this race up a little, with Ocon diving down the inside of Raikkonen at the first corner having closed up with the aid of DRS. That tussle invites Albon into the action, having pitted for hard tyres two laps earlier, and he gets around Raikkonen at turn three.
Verstappen tells his race engineer that he wants new tyres rather than wind information. He's dropped 7.1s behind Hamilton now.
Pit stop
So, Albon opting for the one stop presumably. They've got to do something different to clear the Racing Points. He rejoins in 16th.
Radio Comms
"Struggling with rear", Verstappen says. Red Bull get the hard tyres out, but it's for Albon.
It's lap 16 now - Hamilton is 4s ahead of Verstappen, with a fastest lap of a 1m22.767s. Bottas is 2.4s off Verstappen, who has 12.4s in hand over Stroll.
For the last three laps Kvyat has had three runs down the main straight with DRS but just can't get close enough to torpedo down the inside of Vettel at the first corner.
If this race was a curry, it'd be a korma right now. We're in need of spice to kick it up to bhuna level at the very least.
Vettel remains the highest runner who started on the medium tyres in 11th place, having had a free pick after missing Q3, but is coming under pressure from Kvyat who is on the softs and within DRS range.
Stopwatch
A new fastest lap for Hamilton, a 1m23.067s, so he's unlocked some extra pace.
Albon's dropped off of Perez by an extra second, presumably to revert to tyre management mode.
Our lovely tyre performance graphic says Bottas has 40% performance left on his front right. However, he's on "target-plus-one", so he's managed to keep extra life in the red Pirellis.
Radio Comms
"Wind has picked up, 25-30 kph. Tailwind into turn 9," Bottas is informed. A stiff breeze indeed.
Radio Comms
Sainz confirms over his McLaren team radio he is sticking with "Plan A" as he sits in seventh place with a three second gap to Albon ahead of him.
It's always been difficult to pass here, and that's because you lose a lot of ground on the infield section. Albon's closing in on Perez, but can't make any inroads in the infield.
Radio Comms
Albon's just winding in Perez now, aiming to break into the top five. "Slip management is critical now", Perez is told.
Radio Comms
"Gap is starting to close to Lewis," Verstappen is told, but says "I know, but he's driving super slow".
Stopwatch
Bottas now does a 1m23.796s on lap 5, freed up by Stroll in a bid to catch up to Verstappen.
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REPLAY: A very good start from Gasly then, managed to get up as far as seventh before Sainz covered him back off and reclaimed the place.
Bottas now clears Stroll this time around, getting past at the start of Lap 5 into T1 with DRS.
Leclerc's still stuck on Gasly like a limpet, hanging onto the back of the AlphaTauri.
Bottas has the DRS open, but Stroll holds the line into T1 and holds the Mercedes off! Good defending from the Canadian.
First benchmark of 1m24.630s from Hamilton, then. Verstappen's 1.4s off the Mercedes, and Stroll's a further 1.8s back
Radio Comms
"Important to get through Stroll, we can still have a race," Bottas is told.
Stunning move from Kvyat, around the outside of Ricciardo at Turn 4!
Leclerc has lost ground to Gasly at Turn 10, as Norris has dropped to 10th on that opening tour.
Perez was also close to clearing Bottas there, and Albon was very close to the back of the #77 car into turn 2.
Bottas has a sluggish start, and Verstappen and Stroll both clear the Mercedes! Hamilton scampers off into the lead.
Lights green
And the Spanish Grand Prix is go, go, go!
The drivers now begin to line up for the full start, having hopefully grabbed a bit of heat for those tyres.
Green flag
We're underway for the formation lap.
We can imagine most will be attempting to avoid the hard tyre, as a number of drivers really struggled in FP2 on them. So, two stops? A wild one-stop attempt if the softs can hang on?
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Some tyre news, then - the top 10, Kvyat, Magnussen and Russell all start on softs. The rest begin on mediums.
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When we said "five minutes until the start", we meant ten. It's *now* five minutes until the start - apologies for the false alarm? Lockdown has ruined my previously solid timekeeping skills...
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The grass at the edge of the circuit looks horrendously dried out - this is where Bernie's sprinklers could have come in handy.
There's a 20 percent risk of rain for this encounter - an air temp of 30 degrees C and a track temp of 48.7 degrees C.
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Ten minutes, then, until the start of the race. You have five minutes to grab a cuppa, a sandwich and any other sofa rations you need.
We've got an all-Mercedes front row, however, with Verstappen and Perez lurking on the second row - ready to pick up any pieces.
Whichever way you cut it, tyre pain in Spain could send your race mainly down the drain.
By: Jake Boxall-Legge
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