Postpublished at 07:06 British Summer Time 9 April 2017
Race control: Incident involving car five (Vettel) has been noted - car out of position.
Summary
Hamilton wins Vettel 2nd - both tied on 43 points in title race
Verstappen up to 3rd from back, Ricciardo 4th
Bottas spins behind safety car
Alonso, Kvyat, Vandoorne, Giovinazzi, Stroll out
Postpublished at 07:06 British Summer Time 9 April 2017
Postpublished at Lap 1/56
Carlos Sainz, the only driver to start on dry weather tyres, is dropping back. Gamble not paid off it seems.
Lewis Hamilton leads from Sebastian Vettel, Valtteri Bottas, Kimi Raikkonen and Daniel Ricciardo.
Image source, Getty Images
Image source, Getty ImagesGo! Go! Go!published at 07:04 British Summer Time 9 April 2017
LIGHTS OUT!
Good start by Lewis Hamilton and he holds off Sebastian Vettel to lead at the first corner.
Superb start by Daniel Ricciardo who is already one place up into fourth.
Image source, ReutersPostpublished at 07:03 British Summer Time 9 April 2017
The cars have lined up, although Sebastian Vettel is out of position. Might get in trouble for that.
Postpublished at 07:03 British Summer Time 9 April 2017
Could be a very wise move by Carlos Sainz then. Toro Rosso to win it...?
The circuitpublished at 07:02 British Summer Time 9 April 2017
Image source, .Postpublished at 07:01 British Summer Time 9 April 2017
"It has dried up quite a bit," reports Sebastian Vettel on the formation lap.
Postpublished at 07:01 British Summer Time 9 April 2017
Red Bull's Team Principal Christian Horner sums it up nicely on 5 live:
"The conditions are great for the fans but a nightmare for strategy!"
Postpublished at 07:00 British Summer Time 9 April 2017
Interesting!
Everyone is starting on inters APART from Carlos Sainz, who is on super-softs. He's lining up 11th on the grid.
Postpublished at 07:00 British Summer Time 9 April 2017
Tom Clarkson
BBC Radio 5 live commentatorIt's still really slippery and really greasy so I think you would lose too much tyre temperature if you tried to get on the slicks.
Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Inters for Max...
Postpublished at 06:58 British Summer Time 9 April 2017
Tom Clarkson is thinking intermediates will be the tyre of choice to start on.
Just waiting for the tyre blankets to come off so we can have a peek.
Postpublished at 06:57 British Summer Time 9 April 2017
Postpublished at 06:56 British Summer Time 9 April 2017
No rain at the moment but the track is still damp, particularly on that run to the first corner. Almost time for the formation lap.
Postpublished at 06:55 British Summer Time 9 April 2017
Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writerWilliams driver Lance Stroll was all smiles after qualifying in the top 10 in only his second grand prix.
Certainly the 18-year-old has had a better weekend than in Melbourne, when he crashed heavily in qualifying but the facts are that he was more than 0.7secs slower than team-mate Felipe Massa, who is not exactly the very highest level.
Stroll has had more miles in preparation for his F1 career than any young driver since Lewis Hamilton and a Williams insider told this writer last autumn that he would as a result have no excuses if he was off the pace. The son of a billionaire who is providing 10s of millions of pounds to Williams for the seat, Stroll does not need any sympathy. He even his his own private jet. But for the sake of his hopes of a long-term career in F1, he will need to get closer to the pace than that.
Image source, Getty ImagesExpect overtaking?published at 06:53 British Summer Time 9 April 2017
According to Pirelli statistics, last year's race saw more overtaking than any other with 128 moves. Lewis Hamilton made 18 of those after starting at the back of the field. Max Verstappen to rack up a few today?
'Today I am a fish'published at 06:51 British Summer Time 9 April 2017
Fernando Alonso speaking to Tom Clarkson in the pit lane on 5 live:
"These conditions are quite chaotic today so it's quite good for us and good for the crowd here".
Asked what kind of animal he is going to be in the car during today's race...?
"Errm a fish?! The most important thing is to get the strategy right today."
Image source, Getty ImagesMostly drypublished at 06:51 British Summer Time 9 April 2017
Postpublished at 06:51 British Summer Time 9 April 2017
How have we got to 10 minutes until lights out? Flown by.
Anyway, grab a coffee and settle in. Should be a cracker.
Postpublished at 06:49 British Summer Time 9 April 2017
Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writerAntonio Giovinazzi rather blotted his copybook with his crash at the end of first qualifying, but it is fair to say the Ferrari reserve driver has impressed as a stand-in for Pascal Wehrlein in the last two races.
The Italian qualified only 0.1secs behind team-mate Marcus Ericsson, who has three years’ experience, and was actually on course to beat him on the lap that ended with him in the wall on the pit straight. Sauber say they hope Wehrlein will be back for Bahrain next weekend or, failing that, Russia two weeks after that but at least they know they are probably not losing out by the German’s decision not to race until he is 100% fit.
Giovinazzi drops towards the back because of a five-place penalty for a gearbox change.
Image source, Reuters
Image source, ReutersPostpublished at 06:48 British Summer Time 9 April 2017
Williams' Felipe Massa was just speaking to Tom Clarkson on Radio 5 live:
"I think we will be on inters to start with but in 15 minutes or so we could change - you never know.
"I am hoping we will do well today - I want to score some good points and do the best we can. It's a long race so anything can happen today!"
Image source, EPA