Lap 37/61 “You’re just a passenger in the car,” says Alonso of his demise. He also reckons he was taking out Hamilton, so might well be in the lead now. Or not, obviously.
Lap 36/61 Just when it looks like Ricciardo is making some kind of impression, Hamilton puts in his fastest lap. Meanwhile, Sainz’s team tell him about a potential battery issue; he tells them to “shut up”.
Lap 34/61 Hamilton’s lead is up to 9.343 seconds. Ricciardo, Bottas, Hulkenberg, Sainz and Perez come next. Those last two are battling hard for the ascendancy.
Lap 31/61 So the pits are did and Hamilton is 8.666 ahead. It’s hard to see how Ricciardo closes that up, let alone how he gets past thereafter. If he stays safe, he’ll win.
Lap 30/61 Hamilton comes in, the stop is a bazzer, slicks are applied, and back out he comes into the lead. Ricciardo is back into second, Palmer stops. Bottas is third, then Hulkenberg, Sainz, Perez, Palmer and Vandoorne.
Lap 29/61 A rash of stopping. Sainz is on supersoft now, but the rest are all on slicks. Palmer is second now, Ricciardo third, then Bottas, Hulkenberg and Sainz.
Lap 29/61 Hamilton is lapping six seconds faster then Magnussen on his new tyres, and Ricciardo pits! Will that help? Will it encourage Hamilton to pit?
Lap 27/61 Surely Ricciardo will have to take the tyre gamble, because he’s just making no impression. Or perhaps he’ll consider second a decent evening’s work and be done.
Lap 26/61 Still Hamilton goes away. Massa comes in, and is now in 14th. Magnussen, 16th, is quicker than Grossjean his team-mate, but slower than Hamilton.
Lap 25/61 No one is prepared to go to slicks yet and there goes Hamilton again, extending his lead to 6.438! What a lap he’s just driven! Magnussen bites the bullet, nipping in to change to slicks.
Lap 24/61 This really is impressive stuff from Hamilton. He doesn’t have the fastest car, he isn’t on the freshest tyres, and he’s still driving away from the field. The lack of further rain makes you think he’ll squanty this right down.
Lap 23/61 “No more rain expected,” we hear on someone or other’s radio, and Hamilton stretches away a little more. Raikkonen has his sunglasses on; it’s night-time.
Lap 21/61 Hamilton now leads by 5.05 or so; what is the Honey Badger going to do about it? This could be a pivotal weekend in the season, or at least one on which Hamilton and Vettel will look back when they finish first or second.
Lap 20/61 “Vettel on broadcast seems to be blaming Verstappen,” Beau Dure. “Clearly, Max should’ve simply stopped his car and allowed everyone to pass.”
My exceedingly inexpert eye is blaming Vettel and more or less only Vettel.
Lap 18/61 Hamilton puts in his fastest lap and tells his team that the track is taking ages to dry – odd given how hot it is. Ok, how hot it apparently is.
Hamilton sets the fastest lap. Photograph: Dunbar/LAT/REX/Shutterstock
Lap 12/61 So the field are bunching together again. Vettel says he doesn’t know what happened at the start, and that he moved across to shut out Verstappen.
Lap 11/61 Hamilton is still pulling away, now 5.2 seconds ahead. But look at this! Kvyat takes out Magnussen and then crashes out! Safety car back in business.
Lap 10 /61 In commentary they’re debating whether anyone will pit to change into slicks, but reckon five to 10 more laps first. And if Hamilton waits until lap 20, he can get to the end without needing another stop.
Lap 9/61 “’Vettel was told to stop because he’d lost water pressure’,” tweets Bill Hargreaves. “My father has a similar issue. Quite common when you get older, I hear.”
Lap 7/61 Hamilton leads by 4.490, and he’s gone away a little. Ricciardo will still fancy his chances, I shouldn’t wonder, because his car seems more suited to this circuit.
Lap 6/61 Still Hamilton, and it turns out Vettel was told to stop because he’d lost water pressure, not because of the damage to his car. The rain has stopped.
Lap 4/61 Off we go again! Hamilton zooms away, and there are serious visibility issues for those trailing. In a gush of spritz, Palmer takes out Bottas.
Hamilton leads Ricciardo at the re-start. Photograph: Edgar Su/Reuters
Lap 4/61 Over the radio, Vettel apologised to his team. I guess his first error was in not starting as well as Raikkonen, then driving overly aggressively looking to remedy it.
Giedo van der Garde
