As it happened: Spain 2017 - The race

• 12:30

  Hello F1 friends, how have you been? Are you all wide awake and raring to go for the Spanish Grand Prix today?

• 12:31

  The pit lane has opened at the Circuit de Catalunya, and the cars are revving up and making their way out for a lap to the grid.

• 12:32

  Lots of practice starts in evidence, no doubt drivers feeling the pressure as overtaking is at a premium in Spain so the start will be crucial.

• 12:32

  Circuit Data

  Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
  Local timezone	+02:00 GMT
  First race	1991
  Number of laps	66
  Circuit length	4.655km
  Race distance	307.104km
  Start offset	0.126km

• 12:33

  McLaren are still dominating headlines but they have mixed fortunes this weekend so far. Stoffel Vandoorne qualified second from last but has taken a 10 place power unit grid drop anyway, so will be at the back of the field.

• 12:33

  Fernando Alonso, however, spurred on by the home crowd, managed to qualify not only inside the top ten, but up in seventh place. Incredible!

• 12:33

  Starting grid

  1	L Hamilton	Mercedes
  2	S Vettel	Ferrari
  3	V Bottas	Mercedes
  4	K Räikkönen	Ferrari
  5	M Verstappen	Red Bull
  6	D Ricciardo	Red Bull
  7	F Alonso	McLaren
  8	S Pérez	Force India
  9	F Massa	Williams
  10	E Ocon	Force India

• 12:34

  The last ten years have seen the Spanish Grand Prix won by a different driver every single time. It's also been the sight of some surprise winners, like Pastor Maldonado in 2012 and Max Verstappen last season. Who will it be this year?

• 12:35
  Hard

  Medium

  Soft

  The tyres are of some concern, as Pirelli have opted to bring the hard compound here, despite the fact that durability has been higher than expected on even the softest of compounds.

• 12:36

  2017 race wins

  Pos	Driver	Total
  1	S Vettel	2
  2	L Hamilton	1
  3	V Bottas	1

• 12:39

  The organisers have opted to extend the length of the DRS zones here this weekend, hoping to improve overtaking opportunities.

• 12:40

  Tweet from @SauberF1Team: Empty garage. Our boys are on the way to the starting grid - #PW94 will start the #SpanishGP from P15, #ME9 from P16! 20 min to go

• 12:41

  Daniil Kvyat, starting 19th on the grid: "It’s a long race and anything can happen still. Sometimes strange things can happen on this track. I think we will see a lot of interesting things today. [The car] can sometimes come alive in the race, you never know, it’s a bit unpredictable this weekend."

• 12:43

  Stoffel Vandoorne, starting 20th on the grid: "It’s been a difficult start of the season, we knew that. Hopefully today with the strategy we can do something different. It’s not an easy one stop as everyone thought."

• 12:46

  Max Verstappen, third row of the grid: "Nice temperature, so good. I’m not sure if we can really challenge [Mercedes and Ferrari] on pure pace but I think if we can have a good start… it’s difficult to overtake on this track. I think we can defend, just a shame the DRS zone is a bit longer, but I think we can."

• 12:46

  

  24°C
  Track	44°C
  Humidity	41%
  Wind speed	1.1mps

• 12:47

  Drivers have made their way to the front of the grid to respectfully await the national anthem.

• 12:49

  Race Battle

  Red Bull	Finished Ahead
  M Verstappen	3
  D Ricciardo	1

• 12:51

  Tweet from @MercedesAMGF1: The boss, Dr. Zetsche, is with us this weekend!

• 12:53

  Ferrari have introduced a new start system for their drivers, but Ted News, it looks like Vettel has got the new system and Kimi has not.

• 12:54

  Paddy Lowe of Williams aims to get both drivers in the top ten today: "Very tough for Lance to get points today, but there are options to allow him that. Depends what happens in front, obviously. Felipe we’d like to be pushing up towards seventh, sixth place if we can."

• 12:55

  Tweet from @nigelmansell: Hearts starting to beat a little quicker.The start at this GP has a long run down to turn one,so easy to misjudged your braking.Good race

• 12:58

  Not much chance of rain today, less than 20%, but it's looking quite windy out there and the gusting conditions caught out a lot of drivers during Friday practice.

• 12:59

  Most of the drivers are starting on the yellow soft tyres, with just Kvyat and Vandoorne, plus Palmer in 17th, starting on the mediums.

• 13:00

  The grid clears for the formation lap.

• 13:02

  Lewis Hamilton leads the field away for the formation lap, it's nice and bright there in Barcelona.

• 13:04

  Race started.

• 13:05 Lap 1

  First lap action all over the place. Sebastian Vettel has grabbed the lead of the race. Verstappen and Räikkönen back at the rear of the field.

• 13:05 Lap 1

  Räikkönen has a tyre pointing in totally the wrong direction, he'll be heading for the pit lane.

• 13:05 Lap 2

  Felipe Massa has a puncture and he'll have to dive in for an early stop as well.

• 13:06 Lap 2

  Turn 1 incidents under investigation.

• 13:06 Lap 2

  Yellow flags.

• 13:07 Lap 2

  Räikkönen hasn't managed to make it back to the pit lane, he's stopped at the side of the track. Verstappen is in the pits but it doesn't look so good for the Red Bull driver either.

• 13:08 Lap 3

  Palmer and Kvyat also pitted during the first few laps of chaos.

• 13:08 Lap 3

  Out front, Vettel has hauled out a 2.6 second lead already, and is setting the fastest lap of the race so far.

• 13:09 Lap 4

  Turn 1 incident involving M Verstappen and K Räikkönen - no action warranted.

• 13:09 Lap 4

  Massa had a front right puncture and a front wing change, so he's back out and running in 18th, having dropped nine places.

• 13:10 Lap 4

  Turn 2 incident involving F Massa and F Alonso noted - forcing another driver off the track.

• 13:10 Lap 5

  Fernando Alonso has dropped to 11th, but he's chasing the Haas of Grosjean for that last points position.

• 13:11 Lap 5

  Right, replays of the start are go. Vettel just got off the line really cleanly and was leading into the first corner.

• 13:11 Lap 5

  Bottas on the inside nudged Räikkönen into Verstappen, it was a minimal amount of contact for those two but they then had to go over the hefty kerbs.

• 13:12 Lap 5

  On board with Kimi, actually it looked like a soft nudge with Bottas but a really hard hit with the Red Bull. "Somebody hit me from behind and broke my steering," the Finn reported.

• 13:13 Lap 7

  We heard the replay of Alonso complaining that Massa had bumped him off track, but it seems like Massa came off worse there anyway.

• 13:14 Lap 7

  One to Watch

  L Stroll	vs.	M Ericsson
  13th	+0.275s	14th

• 13:14 Lap 8

  Tweet from @pirellisport: Already on lap two, #Seb5 is setting lap times more than two seconds faster than last year’s fastest race lap. #SpanishGP

• 13:15 Lap 8

  Hamilton is maintaining the gap to Vettel but tells the pit wall that he's really struggling to keep up with the guy in front.

• 13:16 Lap 9

  Gap Analysis

  Pos	Driver	Gap
  1st	VET	1:26.091
  2nd	HAM	+2.669
  3rd	BOT	+9.438
  4th	RIC	+14.740
  5th	PER	+21.076

• 13:16 Lap 9

  Team radio to Alonso: "How much do you think you're being held up?"

  "A lot."

  Unusual position for the McLaren to be in!

• 13:17 Lap 9

  Valtteri Bottas has been instructed to pick the pace up.

• 13:18 Lap 10

  Tweet from @RenaultSportF1: Lap 10 - Nico is P7, looking to go play with his former team, and Jolyon has rejoined in P17 after his pitstop.

• 13:18 Lap 10

  Turn 1 incident involving Alonso and Massa - no action warranted.

• 13:19 Lap 11

  With those early stops for Palmer and Kvyat, Stoffel Vandoorne is the only driver currently running on the medium compounds. All else on softs.

• 13:19 Lap 11

  Turn 1 incident involving Räikkönen, Verstappen and Bottas under investigation - causing a collision.

• 13:20 Lap 12

  Force India are doing a brilliant job, running fifth and sixth at the moment, Pérez four seconds ahead of Ocon.

• 13:21 Lap 12

  Nico Hülkenberg was the biggest winner in the kerfuffle at the beginning, he's currently up six places running in seventh.

• 13:22 Lap 13

  In the other Renault, Jolyon Palmer is told to pick up the pace. He's running 16th with one stop under his belt.

• 13:22 Lap 13

  Fernando Alonso comes in to the pits for his first stop of the afternoon, another set of softs goes on that McLaren.

• 13:23 Lap 14

  Team radio from Hamilton: "What's going on guys?"

  "Okay Lewis, we're just keeping an eye on our pit window. Just keep doing what you're doing, keep that gap as small as possible, you're doing a great job."

• 13:24 Lap 14

  Magnussen and Sainz hustle into the pit lane at the same time. Both cars are released at the same time and Carlos takes to the grass to try and get past the Haas, but has to stick behind for now.

• 13:25 Lap 15

  "He pushed me off, he pushed me off," Sainz complains when we all saw that Magnussen was just trundling down the pit exit as normal.

• 13:25 Lap 15

  Turn 1 incident involving Räikkönen, Verstappen and Bottas under investigation - no action warranted.

• 13:26 Lap 16

  Pit exit incident involving Kevin Magnussen and Carlos Sainz noted.

• 13:26 Lap 16

  Sebastian Vettel pits which puts Hamilton in the lead of the race, and the Mercedes is instructed to make the most of this opportunity.

• 13:27 Lap 16

  Tweet from @pirellisport: We’re seeing race leader into the pits, along with a few others. All onto softs. Slightly slow stop for #Seb5? Hamilton in next?

• 13:27 Lap 17

  Vettel sets the fastest lap of the race, he's currently in third but the first of the runners to have stopped.

• 13:29 Lap 18

  Kvyat muscles his way past Alonso, who really just had to keep out of the bright blue Toro Rosso's way.

• 13:30 Lap 19

  Kimi Räikkönen: "It all started when I got hit on the right rear corner, my car jumped a little bit and you can’t control it after that. Then we got together with Max. What can you do? When you are out of the race in the first corner, there are not many positives."

• 13:31 Lap 19

  Pit exit incident involving Kevin Magnussen and Carlos Sainz under investigation... and then no further action warranted.

• 13:33 Lap 21

  Hamilton has an 11 second lead at the moment, but he sounds really ragged in the car as he asks what the plan is of his engineer.

• 13:33 Lap 21

  Vandoorne dips to the outside of Jolyon Palmer in the Renault, to overtake for 16th place. Good move even for such a disappointing position.

• 13:34 Lap 21

  Replays of a Force India pit stop show they had a real struggle to get the front right tyre off, which delayed Sergio Pérez considerably.

• 13:34 Lap 22

  Lewis Hamilton pits from the lead of the race, leaving Valtteri Bottas to move into P1.

• 13:35 Lap 22

  Super quick stop from Mercedes and they've put Hamilton on the medium compound, which is a different strategy from those around him.

• 13:35 Lap 22

  Having said that, Ricciardo in fourth (just behind Hamilton) is also on the white stripes.

• 13:35 Lap 22

  Bottas in the lead, and Wehrlein running in sixth, are the only drivers not to have stopped yet.

• 13:36 Lap 22

  Tweet from @pirellisport: Well, this is a bit different. @LewisHamilton onto the medium. Might be a short stint, then onto soft until the end.

• 13:36 Lap 23

  Vettel is now chasing Bottas, hoping to regain his lead. There's just half a second between them.

• 13:37 Lap 23

  Of course, if Bottas can hold up the Ferrari, that works in Hamilton's favour.

• 13:38 Lap 24

  Vettel jinks to the side and pulls alongside Bottas down the home straight but he has to back off into the first corner.

• 13:39 Lap 24

  Bottas locks up which allows Vettel to close up even further but there's still no opportunity yet.

• 13:40 Lap 25

  Vettel weaves this way and that down the home straight, wobbles onto the grass to kick up a puff of dust, but finally gets the inside line and makes the move. First place for Sebastian once more, but Hamilton has closed up significantly.

• 13:41 Lap 26

  Hamilton sweeps past Bottas on the next lap, it's about 4 seconds between the first two cars now.

• 13:41 Lap 26

  Bottas, having done his bit for the team in every way, comes in for his own pit stop.

• 13:43 Lap 28

  Tweet from @ForceIndiaF1: 26 laps in, it's still P5 and P6 for Checo and Esteban. Comfortable gaps on their rivals, with WEH 5s behind.

• 13:44 Lap 29

  Driver Positions

  Pos		Driver	Stops
  1	1	S Vettel	1
  2	-1	L Hamilton	1
  3	0	V Bottas	1
  4	2	D Ricciardo	1
  5	3	S Pérez	1
  6	4	E Ocon	1
  7	8	P Wehrlein	0
  8	5	N Hülkenberg	1
  9	2	K Magnussen	1
  10	2	C Sainz	1

• 13:45 Lap 29

  Still unclear whether the race leaders will opt for two or three stop strategies here, but Vettel is on a strategy all of his own at the moment - the only one of the top four to be currently on softs.

• 13:46 Lap 29

  Marcus Ericsson dives to the inside of Fernando Alonso's McLaren into turn one, to take 13th place off the Spaniard.

• 13:47 Lap 30

  Calm moment of racing now, as we wait to see who will do what next.

• 13:48 Lap 31

  Inter-Team Battle

  Renault
  N Hülkenberg	8th
  J Palmer	18th

• 13:48 Lap 31

  Team radio to Lewis Hamilton: "We need to be matching Vettel's time, and then closing the gap."

  "I don't think I can close the gap on these tyres, guys."

• 13:51 Lap 33

  Fernando Alonso pits for the second time of the afternoon. That has dropped him down to 17th place.

• 13:51 Lap 33

  Halfway through the race.

• 13:53 Lap 34

  Collision between Felipe Massa and Stoffel Vandoorne and the McLaren is off into the gravel, out of the race.

• 13:53 Lap 34

  Yellow flags and virtual safety car deployed.

• 13:53 Lap 35

  Bizarre incident there, Massa was easily alongside the McLaren and they just bumped wheels in the corner.

• 13:54 Lap 35

  Plenty of drivers taking the opportunity to pit under this virtual safety car.

• 13:55 Lap 35

  With so many cars pitting, we're now left with the top four and, of course, Pascal Wehrlein who took the opportunity to make his first stop, with just one stop under their belts.

• 13:55 Lap 35

  Turn 1 incident involving S Vandoorne and F Massa under investigation.

• 13:55 Lap 36

  Pit entry incident involving Pascal Wehrlein under investigation.

• 13:56 Lap 36

  The McLaren is being recovered, marshals leading the car away on the tractor.

• 13:57 Lap 36

  Replays show Vandoorne apologising to the team over the radio as he ditched into the gravel.

• 13:57 Lap 36

  Mercedes mechanics dash out into the pit lane.

• 13:57 Lap 37

  It's Lewis Hamilton that comes into the pit lane and a fresh set of soft tyres go on the Mercedes.

• 13:58 Lap 37

  Track is clear.

• 13:59 Lap 38

  Sebastian Vettel heads into the pit lane, that's a dodgy strategy call for Ferrari as Mercedes lost far less time under the VSC.

• 13:59 Lap 38

  Vettel rejoins directly alongside Hamilton, they are side by side into the first corner, Hamilton is pushed a little wide, and Vettel keeps the position... just!

• 14:01 Lap 38

  Battle for 7th

  Pos	Driver	Gap
  7	N Hülkenberg	-
  8	P Wehrlein	+3.485
  9	C Sainz	+0.551
  10	K Magnussen	+1.520
  11	R Grosjean	+0.921

• 14:01 Lap 39

  Hamilton is having another go on the Ferrari, he's so close behind it can only be a matter of time before another opportunity presents itself.

• 14:02 Lap 39

  Yellow flags for Valtteri Bottas, he's parked up off track, smoking pouring from the engine.

• 14:03 Lap 40

  The pair are on different tyres now, Vettel on the harder compound, Hamilton on the softer.

• 14:04 Lap 40

  Daniel Ricciardo sets the fastest lap of the race so far - 1:23.686.

• 14:04 Lap 40

  Meanwhile, the front two are navigating their way through back marker traffic which is keeping Hamilton behind, but he's looking feisty.

• 14:05 Lap 42

  Ricciardo in a lonely third right now, the gap to the front pair is over 50 seconds, but he's got tow Force Indias about 10 seconds behind him.

• 14:06 Lap 42

  Hamilton asks his engineer to leave him to it again, but he does say please, so that's something.

• 14:07 Lap 43

  Carlos, however, has no pleases and thank yous. "Okay, leave me alone, now."

• 14:08 Lap 44

  Hamilton finally has the advantage into the first corner, he drags his way past the Ferrari and regains his P1 position.

• 14:08 Lap 44

  Turn 1 incident between Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel noted - no investigation necessary.

• 14:09 Lap 44

  Team radio from Sebastian Vettel: "No chance, no chance. Like a train, like a train."

  "Don't give up, he will struggle with the tyres."

• 14:10 Lap 45

  Daniil Kvyat overtakes Romain Grosjean for P10, the last of the points positions. Not bad considering he started in 19th.

• 14:11 Lap 46

  Hamilton asks the pit wall what the plan is now, whether to pull the gap or cool the tyres, as his rears are already showing signs of wear.

• 14:12 Lap 46

  5 second time penalty for Pascal Wehrlein - failure to stay to the right of the pit entry bollard.

• 14:15 Lap 49

  "It's not easy to pull away from him," Hamilton says, and he's right. The gap is still just 1.7 seconds between him and Vettel.

• 14:17 Lap 50

  Gap Analysis

  Pos	Driver	Gap
  1st	HAM	1:24.058
  2nd	VET	+2.341
  3rd	RIC	+57.567
  4th	PER	+77.347
  5th	OCO	+91.756

• 14:18 Lap 51

  All but the top four drivers have been lapped now. The blue flags are working overtime today.

• 14:23 Lap 54

  Another quiet moment of the race. Ferrari pondering whether to go to Plan C, which is rumoured to be a three stop. He has plenty of gap to Ricciardo in third, but not a lot of time left to make the gap.

• 14:23 Lap 55

  Just three cars on the lead lap now.

• 14:24 Lap 56

  Fernando Alonso has pitted again for his third stop of the day, but he's running 15th now, so disappointment all round for McLaren.

• 14:28 Lap 58

  Eight laps to go and the gap at the front is a relatively comfortable 4 seconds.

• 14:29 Lap 59

  The two Williams drivers are running next to each other, unfortunately for Paddy Lowe who was hoping for points, they are down in 13th and 14th position. Massa is about a second behind Stroll, so may look for a way past for pride.

• 14:29 Lap 59

  Wehrlein is busy defending his seventh place from Carlos Sainz, but has a five second penalty hanging over his head. At the moment, he would still remain inside the top ten.

• 14:32 Lap 61

  Vettel makes a meal of overtaking backmarker Massa, who left him space for an overtake but Vettel overcooked the corner and had to have another go at it.

• 14:33 Lap 62

  Two very different radio messages there:

  Massa: "I think he's afraid of me."

  Vettel: "Why is it always Massa?"

• 14:34 Lap 62

  Fernando Alonso has picked up the pace again and dispatched both Williams drivers to move into 13th.

• 14:36 Lap 64

  Fastest lap of the race so far, Lewis Hamilton - 1:23.593.

• 14:38 Lap 65

  Felipe Massa does make it past his teammate Lance Stroll, and leaves the Williams far behind.

• 14:38 Lap 65

  Puncture for Kevin Magnussen as the Haas drops out of the points and heads into the pit lane. Disappointment!

• 14:39 Lap 66

  Replays show a bit of a bump with Kvyat as Magnussen tried to get past, so the puncture was slightly his own doing. Kvyat and Grosjean up into the top ten.

• 14:39 Lap 66

  Magnussen back out and running 14th.

• 14:40

  Lewis Hamilton wins the Spanish Grand Prix!

• 14:40

  Vettel crosses the line 3.4 seconds behind for second place. Ricciardo a very distant third.

• 14:41

  Race Winner

  Driver	L Hamilton
  Team	Mercedes
  Race time	1:35:56.497
  Race distance	307.104km
  Average speed	192.056km/h

• 14:41

  Gap Analysis

  Pos	Driver	Gap
  1st	HAM	1:25.188
  2nd	VET	+3.490
  3rd	RIC	+75.820

• 14:42

  Fantastic job by Force India for 4th and 5th, incredible points haul for them to consolidate fourth in the championship.

• 14:42

  Esteban Ocon's best finish in F1 as well, solid but quiet job this weekend.

• 14:42

  Pascal Wehrlein crossed the line seventh but will be eighth when classified, so that's Sauber's first points of the season.

• 14:43

  Driver Positions

  Pos		Driver	Stops
  1	0	L Hamilton	2
  2	0	S Vettel	2
  3	3	D Ricciardo	2
  4	4	S Pérez	2
  5	5	E Ocon	2
  6	7	N Hülkenberg	2
  7	8	P Wehrlein	1
  8	4	C Sainz	2
  9	10	D Kvyat	2
  10	4	R Grosjean	2

• 14:44

  Turn 4 incident involving K Magnussen and D Kvyat under investigation.

• 14:44

  Tweet from @McLarenF1: Fernando finishes P12 with his fastest lap of the race: 1:23.894. Great effort from @alo_oficial after an unlucky start.

• 14:45

  Championship Standings

  Pos	Driver	Pts
  1	S Vettel	104
  2	L Hamilton	98
  3	V Bottas	63
  4	K Räikkönen	49
  5	D Ricciardo	37

• 14:45

  Championship Standings

  Pos	Team	Pts
  1	Mercedes	161
  2	Ferrari	153
  3	Red Bull	72
  4	Force India	53
  5	Toro Rosso	19

• 14:49

  Good chat between the three drivers in the green room and they take to the podium for national anthems and champagne.

• 14:49

  Vettel admits to Hamilton that he was surprised by the out and out pace of the Mercedes, and to Ricciardo says he's confused why they emerged side by side with Hamilton after his pit stop. All of that can be attributed to the Ferrari - not quite quick enough today, and a bad strategy call from the pit wall.

• 14:50

  However, Vettel still leads the championship and we go into Monaco still satisfied with having two different teams in this 2017 season long battle.

• 14:50

  Great job for Sauber to pick up their first points of the season, and disappointment (although perhaps not surprise) for Alonso to miss out on points for McLaren after such a good qualifying. He's probably already on a plane to the US, though.

• 14:51

  Toro Rosso have moved ahead of Williams in the constructor's fight, one point between the two. Williams will struggle to do battle with Toro Rosso who have two stronger drivers, whilst they are pinning most hopes on Massa.

• 14:52

  So, two weeks until the Monaco Grand Prix, and we know it won't be an overtaking frenzy, but it can still provide plenty of intrigue and excitement to add to this brilliant 2017 story.