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Hello and welcome to ESPN's live commentary of the 2018 Spanish Grand Prix.
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Lap 1 |
Hamilton leads Vettel into the first corner as Bottas has to settle for third and there's a big impact further back. Grosjean lost the rear of the car on the exit of Turn 3 and spun back into the track, collecting Hulkenberg. It also looked like Alonso had an issue there. |
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Lap 2 |
Gasly is also out. Hamilton tells Charlie Whiting that a restart would be dangerous with so much debris down. Grosjean lost the rear of his car as Magnussen lost the rear of the other Haas in front and swerved in front of him. Grosjean lost downforce and then spun round in the fastest corner of the track, collecting Hulkenberg and Gasly. |
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Lap 3 |
"Massive crash" says Gasly. "This isn't GP2" adds Alonso, who was behind Grosjean when he spun. So, we have Hamilton leading Vettel, Bottas, Raikkonen, Verstappen and Ricciardo behind the Safety Car. A number of drivers are reporting that they are struggling with tyre temperature. It's pretty chilly out there at just 16C. |
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Lap 4 |
The thinner tread on the tyres won't be helping matters as the drivers try to get some temperature in them. The cars of Hulkenberg, Gasly and Grosjean have all been cleared away. We shouldn't be too far from the restart. |
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Lap 5 |
Still waiting on news of a restart. It should be this lap or the next. It won't be this lap, but the drivers will want to go soon as the tyre temperatures will be at rock bottom now. The drivers often ride the brake while on the throttle in order to heat the brakes and get some bulk temperature in the tyres. We could well have another shunt when this gets back under way... Safety Car in this lap. Hamilton starts to back up the pack... |
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Lap 6 |
Alonso goes around the outside of Ocon for 10th place at Turn 3. A great move, no doubt helped by the lower working range of his super-softs at the restart. Ricciardo runs wide at T9 and now has Magnussen all over him into T10. |
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Lap 7 |
Hamilton leads Vettel by 1.5s as they cross the line. Bottas is 0.8s back in third with Kimi another second adrift in fourth. Sainz is looking for a way past Magnussen for seventh as Ricciardo starts to stretch his legs in sixth in the Red Bull. |
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Lap 8 |
DRS is now enabled but Hamilton has a 2.1s lead over Vettel. |
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Lap 9 |
Hamilton is easily the fastest man on the track. Worth mentioning that Leclerc is up to ninth in the Sauber and keeping up with Renault. A great start for him. |
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Lap 10 |
Hamilton is on it and extends his lead by another second on that lap. Impressive stuff from the world champion. Bottas has slipped to 1.8s behind Vettel. The closest two cars are Leclerc and Alonso, but it's so hard to follow another car on this track once you are in the dirty air. This race might start to bed down now. Sainz told the team are thinking about plan B. It's likely that's a two-stop as plan A should be a one stop. |
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Lap 11 |
Hamilton gains another second over Vettel on that last lap. Bottas hanging 1.5s off the back of the Ferrari, but not much point in pushing too hard and damaging the tyres. Bottas reports that everything feels good with his tyres. |
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Lap 12 |
Hamilton now has a 4.9s lead over Vettel. Once he's above 5.0s he might start to manage his pace a bit. It's not so much the degradation here but the wear on the tyres. He won't want to compromise his strategy with a poorly timed pit stop |
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Lap 13 |
Bottas has now closed to 1.1s off Vettel. Looks clear that Mercedes has the fastest race car here today. Verstappen is 1.4s off Raikkonen, so not much between the Ferrari and Red Bull it seems. Unfortunately for the fans watching at Turn 1 Bottas gap to Vettel is still too big for him to get close to attempting a move. |
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Lap 14 |
Ricciardo is closing on the rear of his teammate. But I'd be very surprised if he gets close enough to try one of his famous lunges. He does report that he has more pace over the radio. But to be fair to Verstappen, he's fairly bottled up behind Raikkonen. |
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Lap 15 |
No battles brewing at the moment. Perez is on the rear of Stroll's Williams in 12th and 13th but even he is struggling. Lots of chat on radio Alonso about the state of his super-softs. It seems he is struggling with some graining in these cooler temperatures. That's often an issue on the front left through the high-speed Turns 3 and 9. |
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Lap 16 |
With Perez having no luck in closing on Stroll he now has Vandoorne on his tail. The McLaren driver appears to have a quicker car, but it's the same old story into Turn 1. |
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Lap 17 |
Hamilton feels no need to back off, he has a 7.3s lead over Vettel now and appears happy with he tyres. Bottas remains just over a second off Vettel. The gap there is 1.3s with Raikkonen 3.6s further back. Listening in to radio Hamilton and the world champion asks if its raining. His race engineer says I'll get back to you.. |
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Lap 18 |
Vettel pits from second. Hamilton is told to push hard to counter it. Mediums on the Ferrari, confirming the one-stop strategy. Vettel comes out in seventh, 1.6s behind Magnussen. Hamilton says his tyres are still good. |
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Lap 19 |
That's bad news for Vettel being stuck behind the Haas. He may have new tyres but they are unlikely to give him the advantage to pass the Haas. Surely, Ferrari was banking on getting Vettel out ahead of the Haas in the 11s gap to Ricciardo. Bottas will pit this lap with the aim of emerging ahead of Vettel. He's told he is three seconds safe to the Ferrari. |
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Lap 20 |
Slow stop for Bottas at 3.9s and he emerges just behind Vettel as the Ferrari passes Magnussen with DRS into T1. So Bottas' strategy didn't work either. A normal stop would have delivered him out in front but he's told there will be more opportunities later in the race. |
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Lap 21 |
Rain reported on the visor of one of the drivers I'm listening into. Couldn't make out which one! Rain in the pit lane according to Ricciardo's engineer. Rain really would mix things up at this stage of the race with Vettel and Bottas having already made their planned stop. Hamilton will be keen to remain out and is setting fastest laps at the moment. |
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Lap 22 |
Hamilton has a 16s gap to Raikkonen. Alonso pits from tenth to get rid of those super-soft tyres. He comes out behind Leclerc who has also already stopped. All drivers going on to the mediums for this second stint. |
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Lap 23 |
Hamilton has a 32s lead over Vettel, which is still more than enough to pit and come out in front. Hamilton's last lap was about 0.6s quicker than Vettel and Bottas on the mediums. He may as well stay out and enjoy the performance while it's there. |
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Lap 24 |
Raikkonen is happily keeping Verstappen at bay. That's the other pit lane battle to look out for. Verstappen reports rain drops at Turn 12. But on the grid there were a few rain drops, but it wasn't enough to make a difference to the track conditions. |
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Lap 25 |
Raikkonen has a problem as he swerves out of the way of Verstappen. "No power" he says. That's a brand new engine in the Ferrari since Saturday morning, so that is very bad news not just for this race but the whole season. Raikkonen is told to stop the car. |
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Lap 26 |
Hamilton pits from the lead. And he comes out behind Verstappen, who hasn't stopped and ahead of Ricciardo, who also hasn't pitted. Despite being told to stop the car, Raikkonen has made it back to the pits. He's already down to 12th though. And the Ferrari goes back into the garage. It looks like game over. |
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Lap 27 |
Verstappen is leading by 3.1s as Hamilton is told the Red Bulls are going for a one-stop and he will have to pass on track. Odd, because I thought all cars would try to do a one-stop. Perhaps the concerns about tyre wear have increased after seeing the tyres that came off the cars in the first stint. |
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Lap 28 |
Hamilton sets the fastest lap of the race. He's 2.2s off Verstappen. I still think they are all on one-stops and I'd be very surprised if Hamilton's tyres don't go the distance. Mercedes explained to him that they pitted when they did because of concerns about losing time in traffic. |
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Lap 29 |
Sainz is attacking Ericsson for ninth place. By far the best battle we have at the moment as Sainz goes to the outside of Ericsson at T1 but doesn't make it stick in T2. Worth noting, Sainz has already stopped and Ericsson is on the same mediums he started the race on. |
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Lap 30 |
Verstappen is 1.2s ahead of Hamilton. Ricciardo is 7.0s off the Mercedes and has Vettel 4.6s behind. No real pressure on Hamilton to pit. |
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Lap 31 |
Ocon's race is ruined by a very slow pit stop cause by an issue getting the right rear on the car. Sainz tries again to pass Ericsson on the outside of Turn 1 but can't make it stick. |
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Lap 32 |
Hamilton is within a second of Verstappen. But the Mercedes driver has a 12s lead over Vettel who is the man he is really racing. |
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Lap 33 |
Hamilton told again that Red Bull is one-stopping. If he is two-stopping then he needs to find a way past. If he is one-stopping he may as well hang back and look after his tyres. |
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Lap 34 |
Ricciardo pits from third. He comes out in fifth place with a 29s gap to Verstappen at the front and new mediums on the car. Hamilton is told if he can't get past then he has to look after the front left - that suggests a one-stop is still possible |
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Lap 35 |
Verstappen pits now. New medium tyres for him too as he emerges in fourth. A clear one-stop for him and he has tyres nine laps younger than Hamilton, 15 laps younger than Bottas and 17 laps younger than Vettel. That should offer some performance advantage although we know degradation is low. Verstappen is 11s off Vettel and will be looking to remain in his pit stop window if the Ferrari pits again. |
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Lap 36 |
So now everyone has stopped, Hamilton leads Vettel by 10.8s, Bottas is 2s behind the Ferrari, Verstappen is 8s behind Bottas and Ricciardo is a further 7s back. |
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Lap 37 |
Ericsson finally pits. The last driver to do so. Now Hamilton has clear air he is again quicker than Vettel. As long as enough rubber remains on that front left he has this race wrapped up. |
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Lap 38 |
Backmarker traffic is now having a big impact on the front runners. It's quite difficult here as the loss in aero is even more sensitive for lap time, so the top drivers really need blue flags to get past. . |
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Lap 39 |
Hamilton now has an 11.6s lead over Vettel. Bottas remains stuck behind the Ferrari, 2.2s back. |
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Lap 40 |
Alonso is still stuck behind the Sauber of Leclerc, 0.6s off but unable to find a place to pass. |
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Lap 41 |
Ocon pulls over at the side of the track in Sector 2. Looks liek an engine issue as smoke comes from the rear of his Force India through Turn 4.
Hamilton says: "These tyres will be hard to reignite". The Red Bulls are on the same compound but they won't be as worn, so they should have an easier time getting temperature in them. |
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Lap 42 |
Vettel pits from second for mediums again. He comes out behind Verstappen. That seems like an odd decision by Ferrari but maybe the wear rate was just too high. It looked like a slow pit stop too, but may have handed Verstappen a podium. Just waiting for the restart from this VSC. The Force India is nearly clear. |
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Lap 43 |
Verstappen hit a Williams on the VSC restart! Big damage to his front wing endplate but he is staying out with a 2.4s lead over Vettel. |
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Lap 44 |
It was Stroll that Verstappen hit and Sirotkin had a random spin in a separate incident. Stroll appears to have an issue and has dropped out of the top 10. Verstappen told "As long as you are happy with the balance it's OK". |
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Lap 45 |
That front wing damage won't help Verstappen's hopes of keeping the front left tyre alive either. He currently still holds a 1.6s lead over Vettel though. Perez hit the Verstappen end plate after it was left on the exit of the final corner. That must have damaged his car too. |
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Lap 46 |
Hamilton has a 14.5s lead over Bottas who has a 11.1s lead over Verstappen. Vettel is still struggling to close on the damaged Red Bull but has a 19s lead over Ricciardo. |
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Lap 47 |
Vandoorne has an issue now and pulls over on the pit straight by the pit lane exit. That car should be cleared under yellow flags and no more but bad news for McLaren. |
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Lap 48 |
Hamilton is setting fastest laps again with a 1:19.766. He's now over 15s ahead of Bottas. |
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Lap 49 |
Vettel remains stuck behind Verstappen who is reminded that there is a long way to go and that Bottas has much older tyres. The loss of the end plate isn't a disaster for Verstappen who is lapping just 0.6s off Hamilton and over a second faster than Bottas on that last lap. |
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Lap 50 |
The problem Bottas could face is that the wear on the front left means there isn't enough rubber left on the tyres to maintain the temperature they need to operate. If that happens it will result in an almost instant cliff in performance. |
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Lap 51 |
Vettel is losing time lapping Alonso and is now 2.2s off Verstappen. Ricciardo is now the fastest man on the track with a 1:19.1s. That's very quick and obviously due to the fuel coming down. He is 16s off Vettel though so needs a big change in this race to capitalise on that pace. |
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Lap 52 |
Hamilton is now 17s clear of Bottas. It looks like he will win this comfortably and Mercedes will take a one-two as long as Bottas' front left doesn't drop off. Verstappen is currently 10.1s off Bottas and 2.4s ahead of Vettel. |
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Lap 53 |
Heavy clouds over the track, but no signs of rain. The sun is also poking out from time to time so it's a bit mixed out there. |
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Lap 54 |
There are no close battles anywhere down the field. This race is all about making the tyres last and hoping the rain does/doesn't come. |
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Lap 55 |
Alonso is optimistically looking at the skies and asks his engineer for a weather forecast. No rain expected though. Vettel is now 2.1s off Verstappen and it doesn't look like he'll find a way past despite having tyres seven laps younger and the Red Bull struggling with a broken front wing. |
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Lap 56 |
Bottas told to keep pushing so that he can build a Safety Car window to Verstappen i.e. pit under the SC and still retain position. That doesn't sound like Mercedes are too worried about the front left. |
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Lap 57 |
Hamilton maintains his 17s lead over his teammate. He's 27s ahead of Verstappen so could make a pit stop and still guarantee a Mercedes one two. Rain is bubbling up to the west of the circuit, but it's still not expected to hit the track. |
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Lap 58 |
Perez is closing on Leclerc for ninth. That's the closest we have to a battle at the moment but Perez is still 0.8s off. Perez shows his nose on the inside at Turn 1, but he's not anywhere near close enough for a pass. |
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Lap 59 |
A close up of Bottas locking his front left shows no worrying signs of wear. He should be OK for the rest of the race but needs to be careful under braking not to flat spot the tyre. |
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Lap 60 |
Perez breezes past Leclerc on the outside at Turn 1. That all looked very easy in the end and moves the Force India up to ninth. Vettel remains 2.4s off Verstappen and doesn't look close to challenging him at the moment. |
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Lap 61 |
Verstappen has the gap to Bottas down to 8.3s but there's only five laps left. He needs the Mercedes' tyres to hit the cliff to get close enough for a pass. |
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Lap 62 |
Sainz reports a loss of power in seventh but is told how to correct the issue. Ricciardo sets a new fastest lap in fifth place but remains in no-man's land, 20s adrift of Vettel. |
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Lap 63 |
Verstappen gets the gap down to 7.9s. Bottas is told he can do more engine saving but he is worried about tyre temperatures. His engineer reassures him he can lift and coast without losing too much temperature. A balancing act going on in the cockpit of car 77 with 3 laps remaining. |
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Lap 64 |
Hamilton still looks comfortable out in front. Vettel looks no closer to attempting a move on Verstappen so looks set to miss out on the podium this afternoon. No other battles going on further down the field. |
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Lap 65 |
Verstappen continues to put pressure on Bottas with the gap reducing to 6.4s on that last lap. |
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Lap 66 |
Final lap for Hamilton. He now has a 20s lead over Bottas and there's no reason to think that will change. Verstappen continues to charge but it won't be enough.
Bottas takes second place. Verstappen rounds off the podium. Hamilton: "Fantastic effort all weekend. This is more like it. Let's keep this up." Ricciardo reports that he spun exiting T10 on the restart, which explains the 22.4s gap to Vettel. |
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Thanks for joining us for live coverage of the Spanish Grand Prix this weekend. We're off to the paddock to hear what the drivers thought of that race. Not a classic by any stretch of the imagination but it will be interesting to hear why Ferrari pitted Vettel for a second time. |
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A Safety Car has been deployed to allow the marshals to clear up the debris all over the track.
Hamilton makes a good restart and leads Vettel through the first few corners. Bottas had a look at Vettel but wasn't close enough.
Lewis Hamilton wins the Spanish Grand Prix, taking back-to-back victories at the last two races!
