"Go a little more if you need but..." pants Lewis Hamilton over team radio. He sounds shattered! He stops talking and you can just hear him breathing really heavily. Intense...

"This is the opportunity, give it everything you have got," Lewis Hamilton is told.

Hamilton is 9.6 seconds clear of Valtteri Bottas and 17.6 clear of Sebastian Vettel, who is now up to third.

Image source, F!

This was the close call in the pits between Carlos Sainz and Kevin Magnusson. 

"He went on the grass, he is crazy. He could have taken us both out," says Kevin Magnussen about Carlos Sainz before his race engineer snaps back at him to tell him to stay calm.

I'd say Magnussen sounded the calmer of the two to be honest! 

Ahmed Ashour:  Hamilton is not going to win anything unless he goes back to basics and improve his starts. One of the reasons he lost it last year  

Shenanigans in the pits as Kevin Magnussen and Carlos Sainz pit at the same time. Sainz then tries to overtake Magnussen on the exit and ends up running onto the grass.

Jack Nicholls
Radio 5 live Formula 1 commentator

Since the start of the Pirelli era there has been so much talk about tyre management, a bit of fuel management.

But now we have been seen all the drivers being told to go flat out, that sheer speed is the priority.

With two world champions at the top of the field, that is what we want to see.

Jennie Gow
BBC Radio 5 live pit-lane reporter

It is a slow pitstop for Vettel. They messed up as they attempted to put that soft tyre on the front left. 3.2 seconds and that half second lost could be crucial.

Sebastian Vettel blinks first and pits from the lead. Not a great stop and he is back out in fourth, behind Daniel Ricciardo, Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton.

Image source, Getty Images

'What's going on guys?" asks Lewis Hamilton as others start to make their first stops. 

He stays out for now and continues to chip away at the gap, which is now 1.9 seconds.

Fernando Alonso makes his first stop. He pits from 11th, takes on a new set of softs and is back out in 14th.

Lewis Hamilton is slowly, slowly bringing that gap down. Sebastian Vettel's lead is currently 2.2 seconds 

"This is a critical time of the race," Hamilton's race engineer tells the Briton.

"Leave me to it, Bono," Hamilton snaps back.

Image source, Getty Images

Nico Hulkenberg has gained the most places so far in the race. He's climbed six places to sixth. 

Jack Nicholls
Radio 5 live sport extra Formula 1 commentator

There is quite a discrepancy between the inside and the outside of the track so for Sebastian Vettel to get away better from the dirty side of the track is significant.

Lewis Hamilton lost several races last season through sluggish starts and I'm sure Mercedes will be dragging him into a simulator over the next few weeks to iron that out.

Felipe Massa has a lot of catching up to do. His stop after a first-lap puncture took longer than it should have done and he's last, 12 seconds behind Jolyon Palmer.

Image source, Rex Features

Jeremiah Kariuki Poor start by Lewis! He was teasing Vettel about the special starts yesterday! He got a better second phase launch compared to Lewis  

Jack of All Trades: Typical Sebastian Vettel opening stint, a series of quick laps to pull away. Hope @LewisHamilton, external can respond.

It's Romain Grosjean's Haas that Fernando Alonso is trying to get the better of. Grosjean is between Alonso and a place in the top 10 at the moment.

Fernando Alonso's upcoming Indy500 appearance 'is a really cool thing' Kelsey Grammer has told BBC Radio 5 live.

"Fernando how much do you think you are being held up," Fernando Alonso is asked.

"A lot," he replies.

The McLaren faster than its rivals? What a time to be alive.