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Hello and welcome to ESPN's live coverage of the Australian Grand Prix. --- 16:06: Lights out.... 16:05: Kvyat has stopped before the grid. The lights flash yellow so another formation lap. For the second time Rosberg is slow to get away. Kvyat is out of the car as they push the car to the left hand side of the grid - the wrong side if he wanted a pit lane start, suggesting he thinks the issue is terminal. Second DNS in Melbourne in a row for the Russian. They eventually get the Red Bull through the gap in the pit wall just as Hamilton rounds the final corner, so we might see Kvyat after all. --- 16:03: Hamilton in no rush to get back to pole position as the pack filters back to the grid. Anticipation levels high - here we go! --- 16:01: The top eight on the super-soft tyres they used in qualifying. Force India, Button, Bottas, Kvyat, Grosjean, Gutierrez on the soft tyre. 16:00: Hamilton leads the pack away for the formation lap. ---
--- 15:55: The big jet hovering over the grid has now disappeared - meaning we are just about ready for 2016 to properly get under way. --- 15:52: The radio clampdown has been eased slightly ahead of this race, with the pit wall now able to make strategy calls with the driver. A sensible change to the rule, I think. Imagine saying a football manager couldn't give tactical advice to drivers. --- 15:50: Ten minutes until lights out. --- 15:41: A recap of the grid. It's Mercedes - Ferrari, but rows three and four look very interesting. Master Max Verstappen sits there in fifth position and I can't wait to see him into Turn 1. The Force Indias are ninth and tenth and had free reign on tyre choice so are actually in a good position relative to the guys in front. 15:39: In case you missed it, the farcical live elimination system has been scrapped ahead of Bahrain. --- 15:36: The teams have started making their way to the grid. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the man who did last year's podium ceremony, is pit lane. |
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Lap 1 |
Horrible start from Hamilton and great sstart for Vettel who leads into Turn 1! Ferrari leads a one-two! Rosberg holds on to fourth as Hamilton slips down the order. We have a race on our hands, ladies and gentlemen. Hamilton has dropped down to sixth, he's behind Button. "Puncture, puncture," Magnussen says. He'll be pitting at the end of this lap. |
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Lap 2 |
Vettel's lead already 1.5s. Rosberg 2.4s down on the lead Ferrari. Hamilton all over the back of Massa's gearbox but overtaking is difficult around here. Plus, he's got a same-spec Mercedes in front of him. Gutierrez complaining of a problem with his Ferrari power unit. He's down in 20th. Magnussen pits for new soft compound tyres. |
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Lap 3 |
Vettel sets a fastest lap, a 1:31.664. You have to wonder if Hamilton lost out from sitting on the grid for so long. Ferrari in a great position to win this race already - Raikkonen can play the role of rear gunner. Shades of Hungary last year. |
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Lap 4 |
Hamilton got a super exit out of Turn 3 but then darts to the outside of Massa at Turn 4, gets the undercut as Massa goes defensive and takes fifth position out of the next corner. Nice driving from the world champion. Verstappen's Toro Rosso the next man up.
# Replays show Hamilton getting squeezed by Rosberg at the first corner, which cost him positions to Verstappen and Massa. His onboard just suggests he got bogged down off the line. Tiny amount of contact with Rosberg's left rear which seems to have taken a tiny portion of wing off his Mercedes. |
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Lap 5 |
Replays also show Magnussen getting some contact coming out of Turn 2, leading to his puncture. Rosberg chipping away at Rosberg's lead, he's now half a second down on the Raikkonen. Fastest lap for Rosberg - 1:31.575. DRS has been enabled now so what can the Mercedes man do in the next few laps. Great shot of Ferrari boss Arrivabene going absolutely bonkers in the Ferrari garage when Vettel takes the lead. |
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Lap 6 |
Hamilton seems to be within the DRS zone of Verstappen. Mercedes matching Ferrari on pace currently. Lower down the order, Alonso is in tenth. |
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Lap 7 |
Hamilton gets a big stab of DRS and closes up to Verstappen's Toro Rosso into Turn 1. He gets another bit of DRS into Turn 3 but isn't quite close enough. Hamilton vs Verstappen, one we might have to get used to seeing... |
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Lap 8 |
Hamilton not close enough again at Turn 1 or Turn 3. Verstappen doing a good job at the moment. Vettel, in clean air, lapping four tenths a lap quicker than the Mercedes drivers. |
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Lap 9 |
Vettel not disappearing into the distance, which will be a concern for Ferrari. Sainz pits for the first time. Bottas passes Ericsson into Turn 1 after his own pit stop. |
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Lap 10 |
No pit stop for Verstappen and Hamilton still not close enough to make a move but he's inching ever closer. Massa has Ricciardo all over him and the Aussie gets by at Turn for sixth position to the delight of the local crowd. "I can't get past this guy," Hamilton tells Mercedes. |
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Lap 11 |
Hamillton already 11 seconds down on Vettel and that last message may well be a suggestion to Mercedes to consider a different strategy. Every lap he's behind Verstappen is hurting his tyres. Vettel's lead still only 2.4s, Rosberg 3.2s down on the lead Ferrari. Mercedes will still very much fancy its chances - at least one of its cars still very much in the hunt. Kudos to Verstappen - he's doing a superb job keeping the reigning world champion behind. |
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Lap 12 |
Hamilton's gap looking no smaller at the start of this lap. Massa pits for some soft tyres. Bottas and Palmer going wheel-to-wheel at Turn 3 but Palmer isn't having of it, holding firm through the next sequence of corners and keeping the Williams man at bay. They go at again through Turn 9 and this time Bottas gets by - wonderful stuff from both men. |
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Lap 13 |
Rosberg pits from third, soft tyres. He just gets back out ahead of Hulkenberg and the two men nearly come to blows at Turn 1. Rosberg was in no mood to wait around in his pit box, he blasted out of that. "Got to be another strategy guys," Hamilton says. They inform him they will be going long. This race appears to be slipping away from the world champion. |
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Lap 14 |
Race leader Vettel pits. Super-softs come off, super-softs go on! Thet set Ferrari saved in qualifying. Vettel gets out just ahead of Vettel but the Mercedes man has a great drive but Vettel plants the car in the middle of the road and Rosberg doesn't take any risks. We have a real race on our hands now. |
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Lap 15 |
"Come on box me, my front's really suffering," says Raikkonen. Ricciardo dives down the inside of Button, nice move. Verstappen also pitted, releasing Hamilton into second. Fastest lap from Rosberg on those soft tyres. Raikkonen and Hamilton first and second but are yet to pit. Some great action down the order. Still no pit for Raikkonen, is Ferrari trying to mirror Hamilton's strategy? Kimi the sacrificial lamb for Ferrari. |
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Lap 16 |
Vettel now already the back of Hamilton and makes those fresh tyres work, flying past the world champion coming out of Turn 2. Big cheers from the crowd. One-stop window starts around lap 17 so Hamilton should pit any time soon. |
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Lap 17 |
Super-softs for Raikkonen, so no one-stop strategy. Hamilton bolts on the medium tyres so will hope to go to the end of the race. I tell you what, this is shaping up to be a wonderful race. Vettel and Rosberg will need to pit again. Gutierrez in the gravel and another car upside down, it's Alonso! Alonso is out of the car thankfully, that looks horrible. Gutierrez immediately runs to Alonso to check the Spaniard is OK. That's Turn 3, we've seen big crashes there before. Safety car deployed. |
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Lap 18 |
Lots of debris on the run down to that Turn. Replays just show Alonso goes to switch sides on Gutierrez and the Haas driver has hit the brakes much earlier than he expects. Alonso's car then barrel rolls through the gravel.
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Lap 19 |
The drivers are out of the cars and the cars are now out of parc ferme conditions, meaning changes can be made to the race. Wow, those replays are staggering. Alonso goes through the gravel on his wheels and then violently starts barrel rolling towards the tyres. Hard to tell if Gutierrez or Alonso was at fault. Looks like the Haas car moves ever so slightly to the left at the moment Alonso commits to a move on that side. That's good to see, Alonso waves to the crowd as he walks away from the wreckage. Session will resume in ten minutes, at 16:55 local time. The teams can now change tyres as they are in parc ferme conditions. Strategies from earlier now out of the window. The stewards are now investigating that crash between Alonso and Gutierrez. The tyre blankets about to come off and then we'll see what the teams have opted for.... Looks like Haryanto is out of the car, his debut race appears to be over. Magnussen has been let out of the pit lane to complete a lap and join the back of the back. Mediums for Hamilton AND Rosberg. Mercedes moving on to their favourite tyre from the winter. Vettel on super-softs. This is going to be fascinating. The safety car leads the pack back out and will pit at the end of the lap, so an immediate restart. Vettel slowing the pack right up. |
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Lap 20 |
Nicely managed restart from Vettel, on the super-soft tyre. He's going to have to get a charge on right now. Ricciardo in fourth already has Verstappen all over his gearbox. Verstappen goes down the outside of Verstappen into Turn 3 but Ricciardo holds firm. Hamilton all over the back of Sainz, who locks up into Turn 11. |
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Lap 21 |
Fastest lap from Vettel, a 1:30.524, but Rosberg behind is in a great position. Vettel needs to make up 25 seconds at least if he wants to pit and make it out ahead of the Mercedes driver - and that's without any data from Friday practice. This is where all that medium-tyre running from winter comes in very handy. Replays show the super-soft McLaren of Button passing Perez for 13th at Turn 3. Lovely. |
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Lap 22 |
Another fastest lap from Vettel, a 1:30.374. Rosberg only two tenths slower on those mediums, staggering. His race to lose from here, you would imagine, if those medium tyres can get to the end of the race. Hamilton will be sick of the sight of Toro Rosso's at the end of today, he's not getting anywhere near close enough to Sainz's gearbox to pass. |
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Lap 23 |
Raikkonen pits. "Something happened. I broke something," he says. It never rains, it pours for Kimi Raikkonen. Fire coming out of his airbox and that's his race over. Raikkonen casually climbs out of the car. |
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Lap 24 |
Another fastest lap for Vettel, a 1:29.951, a full second quicker than Rosberg. He's getting a wiggle on now, full attack mode. Is that retirement going to be a concern for Ferrari? |
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Lap 25 |
Hamilton in desperate need to clear these cars in front of him if he wants to win the race. Verstappen in a great position, currently fourth position, though Ricciardo's Red Bull is disappearing into the distance. Is Australia's wait for an Australian GP local boy on the podium (legally) set to end? |
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Lap 26 |
Ericsson under investigation for his engineers working on his car in the 15 seconds before the safety car left the pit lane. Drive-through penalty almost immediately given to the Sauber driver. |
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Lap 27 |
Rosberg three seconds behind Vettel. The Ferrari's not able to shake the Mercedes drivers even on a much softer compound and that's not insignificant for future races. |
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Lap 28 |
In fact Rosberg is now running quicker than Vettel. Looks like Ferrari has made a big error here because Vettel is going to have to pit later in this race and it's going to drop him quite a way down the order at this rate. Four seconds between Ricciardo and Vetsteppen. |
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Lap 29 |
Vettel gains a tenth on Rosberg. Hamilton is probably stuck behind the two cars you don't want to get stuck behind this season - the Toro Rosso STR11 is one of the best cars on the grid from an aero perspective. Grosjean going well in eighth but he also has to pit again. Hate to say it, but the red flag took a bit of the sting out of this race. Replays show Perez and Button exchanging overtakes in the final sector. |
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Lap 30 |
Perez catching Palmer in the battle for 11th. That Renault's lap times don't look terrible, though. Ferrari is going to have to keep Vettel out long enough to get out in front of the Toro Rosso drivers at the very least and at the moment a pit stop would see him filter back out just behind Hamilton. |
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Lap 31 |
Grosjean is actually on the medium tyre, so he's trying to go to the end. Button becomes the first of the super-soft runners to pit, he bolts on the medium compound. Hamilton all over Sainz's gearbox, looks like his tyres have gone off and he pits. |
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Lap 32 |
That releases Hamilton and surely Vettel is going to have to pit very, very soon. Sainz has come out behind Perez in 12th. |
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Lap 33 |
Vettel stays out for another lap. Lots of head scratching must be going on at Ferrari. Sainz's last pit stop suggests the soft tyre doesn't last very long either. Either way, they need to do something fast - Rosberg took four tenths off him on that last lap. Verstappen pits from fourth and its a very slow pit stop! Medium tyres go on the Toro Rosso and he's now fallen behind his team-mate! That's elevated Grosjean's Haas to sixth.... Sainz dives down the inside of Perez at Turn 9, lovely move. |
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Lap 34 |
Vettel now has Rosberg closing in on them. Verstappen fuming on the radio. "How many times did I tell you I had problems with the tyres? I wanted to pit first," followed by some expletives. Ferrari's hopes now hinge on Rosberg and Mercedes not making it to the end of this race on these mediums. |
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Lap 35 |
Vettel says out again. Surely Ferrari will put the soft tyres on and hope they are quick enough for a charge through the field. Ferrari getting ready in the pit lane it seems. |
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Lap 36 |
Finally Vettel pits from the lead and it will be for the soft compound. Problem at the front and its a slow stop for Vettel! Stationary for five seconds. It hasn't cost him track position but its cost him around 2.5s. Next man up the road? Lewis Hamilton, who is hunting down Ricciardo. a |
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Lap 37 |
Hamilton absolutely flying out there now he's not got two Toro Rosso's in front of him. That last lap a full second quicker than race leader Rosberg. |
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Lap 38 |
Sainz all over the back of Palmer's Renault. "Can I try to get past?" Verstappen asks. Basically saying move Sainz out of the way. It's getting tasty between those two as Verstappen starts having a go at the Spaniard. "Let me try because this takes too long!" Verstappen complains. I wonder if Sainz remembers Singapore? |
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Lap 39 |
Hamilton now 11 seconds off the lead but he only took a tenth off Rosberg's lead on that last lap. The Renault looks much better in a straight line this year as the Toro Rosso's can't get close enough. Verstappen right behind Sainz who is right behind Palmer. |
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Lap 40 |
"We have to do something!" Verstappen tells his team. He's not able to get past his team-mate at the moment, we've seen how difficult it is to pass a man in the same car and tyres as you. "I am pushing, I am pushing, don't tell me to push!" Sainz complains. "Push otherwise we will swap you next lap," is the reply. |
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Lap 41 |
Sainz locks up big time under pressure from Verstappen. Will he yield to a team order? He definitely shouldn't. This is going to end in tears..... Franz Tost shaking his head on the pit wall. Hamilton within DRS range of Ricciardo, Vettel within seven seconds of Hamilton. But how long with Vettel's soft tyres stay this quick. |
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Lap 42 |
With DRS Hamilton passes Ricciardo into Turn 1. Rosberg, Hamilton and Vettel could all still win this race. Palmer doing a wonderful job in front of the Toro Rosso's but Sainz finally makes a move stick into Turn 1. Verstappen also gets past him on the exit of Turn 2 and makes the move stick around the outside of Turn 3. Thrilling stuff. Beaut |
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Lap 43 |
Red Bull pits Ricciardo, so that's a podium out of the question. But that also suggests Vettel's soft tyres aren't going to last too much longer - Ricciardo's lap times dropped off quite a lot in those last ten laps. Timing screens suggests Ricciardo got out ahead of Grosjean, who is doing a great job. |
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Lap 44 |
Replays of Verstappen passing Palmer shows how close he gets to clipping the back of Sainz as they came through Turn 3. Personal best from Hamilton, he's still got something in those mediums. |
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Lap 45 |
Grosjean has Hulkenberg a second behind, this is turning into a great drive from the Frenchman. Can he hold on for 12 laps? Looks like its points either way but sixth will be a phenomenal start for Haas. |
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Lap 46 |
Ricciardo all over the Williams of Massa with his new soft rubber on. He flips open the DRS and he breezes into fourth position, to applause from the local crowd. Vettel still closing on Hamilton. He's five seconds behind the Mercedes driver. That one could get a bit tasty. |
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Lap 47 |
Vettel takes another five tenths off Hamilton. Rosberg leads by 10 seconds - this one looks as good as won for the German. Verstappen all over the place on the radio. "It's a f***ing joke, really!" he complains, saying something about not being allowed to overtake Sainz earlier. Teenagers, hey? The Toro Rosso drivers are now starting to catch the Grosjean/Hulkenberg/Bottas. |
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Lap 48 |
Fastest lap from Ricciardo, a 1:29.466. Verstappen nearly bins it completely at Turn 12. Great save as his car wobbled around the astroturf, clearly he's driving angry. |
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Lap 49 |
Another fastest lap from Ricciardo, on the super-soft tyre, a 1:29.420. Vettel not catching Hamilton as quick as he needs to be if he wants to challenge for second. Looks like Mercedes has a one-two sewn up at the moment unless the Ferrari man can do something pretty special. |
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Lap 50 |
Ricciardo flying with another fastest lap, a 1:28.997. The gap between Hamilton and Vettel is 3.2s. Perez told his brake wear is critical and he wont' make it to the end of the race at this rate. That radio message allowed because of the safety implications. |
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Lap 51 |
Another lock-up from Sainz into Turn 1. Verstappen must be seething in his helmet underneath them. Vettel now nine tenths behind! Hamilton has made a mistake at Turn 9 and that's cost him big time. |
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Lap 52 |
Vettel now within DRS range of Hamilton! Hello hello. This is going to be fantastic. |
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Lap 53 |
Vettel gets another stab of DRS down the pit straight and closes up to Hamilton, who gets a good exit from Turn 2. Vettel can't get close enough the next time around, he's six tenths behind Hamilton. Two great champions in a great battle in the closing stages of this race. Verstappen has spun at the penultimate corner. His post-race media is going to be very interesting indeed. Replays show Sainz locked up and Verstappen went into the back of him. Did very well not to completely clout the other Toro Rosso. |
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Lap 54 |
Vettel to within four tenths of Hamilton with DRS. Vettel's soft tyres 18 laps old, Hamilton on 36-lap old medium tyres. But can Vettel make a move stick... |
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Lap 55 |
DRS again for Vettel but he can't get close enough before Turn 1 or again through Turn 3. Hamilton doing a great job to just stay out of range. This has been an excellent drive from Vettel and he surely has to question Ferrari's strategy this afternoon. Replays show Hamilton driving over a piece of debris. |
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Lap 56 |
Vettel runs very wide at the penultimate corner and that is the end of that battle. Big cheers from the crowd but that's spoilt a nice little battle. "F***, sorry guys!" Vettel says. Verstappen is back on the tail of Sainz and he's driving like a man possessed, bouncing over the kerbs as he joins the pit straight. |
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Lap 57 |
Rosberg begins the final lap of the grand prix. |
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Lap 58 |
Nico Rosberg wins the Australian Grand Prix Hamilton second, Vettel third. Good drive from all three men. Ricciardo fourth, Massa fifth, but candidate for driver of the day is Grosjean in sixth on Haas' debut. "Awesome guys, awesome," Rosberg tells Mercedes. Ricciardo also a candidate for driver of the day but I think Grosjean has to take it. "Amazing dude!" Haas tells Grosjean. "Listen to me guys, this is a win for us guys! This is a win." Grosjean replies. What a result. No points for Palmer but he deserved one on a splendid debut drive. Ferrari boss tells Sky Sports the team tried an aggressive strategy and it didn't work. Still good enough for third. |
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Hamilton gives Rosberg a hug in parc ferme. Smiles for all three men. The Mercedes drivers probably feel like they've got away with one there and Vettel has every reason to smile after the pace showed by Ferrari. |
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No surprises, red flag. Debris all over the place.
