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2018 Chinese Grand Prix
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Bottas has done it! He takes the lead with the undercut!
Vettel pits from the lead - he too takes new mediums.
The strategy pressure is now all on Ferrari, which has both cars still out.
Stopwatch
Bottas rejoins well ahead of Verstappen, who sets a new fastest lap at 1m37.755s.
Bottas was around 3.5s behind Vettel before he stopped.
Bottas comes in from second to take new mediums - he's trying to undercut Vettel and ward off Verstappen's charge.
That call from Mercedes just keeps Hamilton ahead of Ricciardo (and Magnussen, who is artificially up the field at this point as he is yet to stop.
Radio Comms
"Box, box - do the opposite to Raikkonen," Hamilton is told as he comes in for new medium tyres.
And Ricciardo does the same - that was a nice double stack from Red Bull.
Verstappen pits at the end of lap 17 to swap ultras for mediums.
Radio Comms
"I can't get close to Kimi. I'm pushing trying to keep up," Hamilton reports to Mercedes. Worth remembering how strong Ferrari was in 2018 - and still ended up losing the titles...
Hulkenberg passes Leclerc for P14, who as odd as this sounds to write in 2020, is still in the slightly underwhelming start phases of his F1 career at this race.
This early phase is a good example of the Class A/B divide in F1 - the Ferraris and the Mercedes got through Q2 on the softs, while the slower cars had to use the faster rubber and pay the price for a second time in the first stint.
Hulkenberg now pits for Renault.
Up front, Vettel has the gap over Bottas up to 3.1s - and he now has a gap big enough to make a stop and emerge in P6, ahead of Hulkenberg and the class B runners.
Sainz pits to swap ultras for softs, and he emerges in front of Ocon in P17.
Alonso will have taken that well, he's such an easy-going character.
Grosjean again rebuffs Alonso - despite his wearing ultrasofts.
The drivers further down the order are starting come in, with Ocon swapping ultras for fresh softs.
Ricciardo is similarly not able to match Verstappen and this stage, but he is hanging on to Hamilton at the back of Class A.
Vettel and Bottas are putting their team-mates to shame here, pulling away from Verstappen on the ultras, while he runs clear of Raikkonen and Hamilton.
Radio Comms
"Sorry to lose the pace, guys," Hamilton tells Mercedes. He's not exactly all over Raikkonen in the fight for fourth.
Bottas has now stablised the gap to Vettel - 2.1s between the leaders.
But he can't get by into P10 for McLaren.
Alonso attacks Grosjean into the hairpin!
Oh, spoilers.
Still nothing to report up front, if only a couple of Toro Rossos could collide a bring this race to life...
The Haas drivers giving their team grief - that definitely won't become a theme of the next two F1 seasons...
Radio Comms
"Come on, it's lap six!" Grosjean tells Haas, after a bit of swearing, about that Haas team order.
Oh the Haas cars have swapped P9/P10 after some Magnussen moaning.
Not a huge amount happening - the pack is very spaced out already.
The action is already mainly happening in the pack - with Ocon harrying Stroll for 12th, and Alonso chasing Magnussen for 10th - as the leaders try to keep their soft tyres alive, with the Red Bulls in particular having to manage their ultrasoft tyres.
Vettel still flying out front - he's 2.5s seconds clear of Bottas as they start the fourth lap.
Stopwatch
Vettel extended his lead with a fastest lap, naturally on the second tour, of 1m38.417s.
Vettel jumps further clear to run 1.9s clear of Bottas.
Ricciardo remains sixth, it was Verstappen who went forwards for Red Bull.
Vettel used the first lap to eek out a 1.4s lead over Bottas.
The Renaults are scrapping hard at the end of lap one with Sainz attacking Hulkenberg, who holds on to seventh.
Verstappen has now pushed Raikkonen down to fourth, with Hamilton all over the Ferrari too.
Raikkonen's move to Vettel's inside proves to be costly - Bottas takes second for Mercedes around the outside of Turn 1/2.
By: Jake Boxall-Legge
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