Skip to main content

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe
Live text
Formula 1 Spanish GP

Spanish Grand Prix race day

Live Text

Sort by
Vettel passes both as Bottas rejoins, so the Ferrari stays ahead through this first pitstop phase.
Bottas did the hard work there with good pace in the two laps before pitting, while Vettel struggled to get his medium tyres switched on. But the slower pitstop - to the tune of 1.4s - means he failed to get ahead.
Bottas takes on medium tyres too and rejoins as Magnussen and Vettel descend on Turn 1.
"It's a crucial part of the race - you need to pick the pace up if you can and get past the Williams," says Toro Rosso to 17th-placed Hartley, who is chasing Sirotkin.
Vettel is the first of the frontrunners to blink, pitting for medium tyres and dropping back to seventh.
Hamilton is looking unstoppable in this first stint - his lead is out past 7s already. Only Bottas is also able to lap in the 1m21s, and only just. 1m21.5s for Hamilton.
Ricciardo "feels at this stage I have more pace" than Verstappen. "Understood" Simon Rennie replies.
Ricciardo is told to "think about saving the tyres in the high-speed corners" while maintaining the gap to Verstappen.
The closest battle in the field is for 12th, where Stroll is still fending off pressure from Perez and Vandoorne's faster cars.
Magnussen has, understandably, fallen 8.6s off Ricciardo ahead in sixth, but is a comfortable 3.4s clear of Sainz in eighth behind.
The front group is splitting into three distinct parts already: Hamilton in a league of his own, Bottas stalking Vettel, and the Red Bulls hounding Raikkonen, who is 3s behind Bottas in fourth at the moment.
Hamilton's lead is out to almost 5.5s already on lap 13 - the Mercedes was a second quicker than Vettel on the last lap.
Leclerc has now pulled some breathing space over Alonso, so the Sauber is a solitary ninth and Alonso has his hands full with Ocon behind.
"How's the balance?" Red Bull asks Ricciardo. "It's OK for now - a little bit more on the rear". He trails Verstappen by 1.5s in the battle for fifth.
Hamilton is lapping inside the 1m21s. Vettel is on 1m22.5s at present with Bottas 1.6s behind him.
Renault is changing plans - telling Sainz he's now onto "plan B". That long safety car is causing strategy rethinks already.
The top six are stringing out already, with Hamilton continuing to light up the timing screens at the front.
Williams tells Stroll he's now on "plan A plus seven, but we'll react if other people stop". Stroll is 12th, fending off Perez and Vandoorne.
Magnussen is holding his own in seventh, with a 1.4s margin over Sainz behind. Another 1.5s back, Leclerc has Alonso and Ocon right on him.
Vandoorne gets a 5s time penalty for that track-limits infringement.
Vandoorne is under investigation for failing to stay on the correct side of the marker bollard at Turn 2.
Hamilton is streaking away at the front, building a lead of more than two seconds in two laps to put Vettel out of DRS range.
Hamilton bolted after Turn 13 to try to get the jump on Vettel.
A storming move from Alonso on the restart lap at Turn 3 takes him past Ocon into 10th. Alonso has supersofts to play with here.
Grosjean has been sent to medical centre. He had highest recorded impact and has gone for a precautionary examination.
After sitting forlornly on some steps for a while, Grosjean has made it back to the paddock - his helmet still on.
"Oil reported on track, Turn 3, keep working on your fronts, left front especially" Ferrari tells Vettel. Hamilton reports there is still "a lot of stuff" on track.
The stewards will investigate Grosjean for that incident after the race.
"We need the safety car to go faster," complains Sainz. "If not it's going to be chaos. He needs to jump the chicane or something."

By: Geoff Creighton

Published: