Portuguese Grand Prix – Race: Hamilton blows away Verstappen and Bottas

Lewis Hamilton clinches victory at Portimao! The Mercedes driver secures the 97th win of his career, after a Portuguese Grand Prix entirely raced on a dry track but disturbed by the wind.

The Briton wins after passing Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas in the race.

If the Red Bull driver showed good resistance, the Saturday poleman did not hold up over the 66 laps of the race.

The Safety Car quickly came out.

2nd at the lights out, Hamilton had kept his position behind Bottas but ahead of Verstappen.

Further back in the pack, the first incident occurred at the end of the first lap between the two Alfa Romeos, in the start-finish straight. Hero last year in Portimao, Kimi Räikkönen prematurely ended his race by hitting the rear of his teammate Antonio Giovinazzi, in the straight.

If the Italian suddenly shifted to the left of the track, where Räikkönen was, it is Iceman who designated himself guilty, after admitting that he was looking at his steering wheel at the time of the incident. The Safety Car was out, giving the marshals time to clear the debris from Alfa Romeo #7.

At the restart of the 7th lap, Bottas provoked his own teammate by waiting as long as possible to accelerate. Hamilton, surprised, saw Verstappen move into the second position on the start-finish straight. But this advantage was short-lived. By the 11th lap, the British driver regained his position with the slipstream in the long straight. The maneuver was confirmed with a nice door closing on the Dutch driver in the third corner. Tough but fair!

Very well qualified with his 11th place on the grid, George Russell could no longer keep up in the early laps. 15th after the Safety Car restart, the Williams driver had been passed by the other midfield drivers. A tough Sunday for the British driver, who finished far from the top 10.

In a better car, Daniel Ricciardo was moving in the opposite direction in the standings. 16th at the start, the Australian moved into the points zone on the 18th lap by overtaking Vettel’s Aston Martin.

Hamilton clean and flawless on Bottas

The 20th lap was the moment of the leader change! On his first attempt, Hamilton overtook Bottas for the lead, on the outside in the first corner.

Always helped by the aspiration of the long straight line, the British driver made short work of his garage neighbor, completing the pass on the outer curb without putting a wheel off track.

In difficulty towards the end of his first stint with his medium tires, the Finn quickly lost ground to the seven-time world champion. But the top speed of his Mercedes #77 provided him with some respite against Verstappen’s Red Bull, who was always right on his tail.

The round of the first pit stops was launched on the 22nd lap, with the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz coming to a stop. The leaders stayed out on track a little longer with their starting tires, the mediums, with the yellow band.

Beneficiary, Pierre Gasly became the first French driver of the Grand Prix, passing Ocon as he left the pits. On hard tires (white band) for his second stint, the Alpine driver fought back on the 35th lap, repassing AlphaTauri #10.

Verstappen also overtakes Bottas, Pérez with endurance

Unable to pass Bottas on the track in the first stint, Verstappen took matters into his own hands on lap 36 by stopping to switch to hard tires. With maximum attack, the winner of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix threw himself at the pit lane entry line, with the front wheels locked.

Ordered to react, Bottas stopped on the next lap. Slipping at the exit of the 3rd turn, the Mercedes #77 was overtaken by the Red Bull #33.

As expected, the low-abrasion track of Portimao allowed drivers to stretch their stints from the start. Like Alonso, who made his pit stop on the 41st lap, one lap before Riccardo. The Australian remained in the top 10 after exiting, ahead of the double world champion.

And in the meantime, Pérez was leading the Grand Prix! Because the Mexican had taken the lead after Hamilton’s pit stop on the 37th lap. A virtual leader who couldn’t do anything on the 51st lap when the Briton regained his position, after another overtake on the start-finish straight. Pérez stopped shortly after to drop back to 4th place.

More annoyed, Hamilton completed the final laps towards the finish and victory at Portimao!

Verstappen had nibbled away at him by a few tenths, in vain. The seven-time world champion has the upper hand in the drivers’ world championship against his rival: now eight points ahead, in Hamilton’s favor.

Third, Bottas had suffered a slight loss of power on the 56th lap, with no consequences on his third final position. After a pit stop, the Finn still managed to pocket the point for the fastest lap as a meager consolation prize.

Bottas took advantage of Verstappen’s canceled fastest lap in the last lap, the Red Bull driver was found guilty of putting all 4 wheels beyond the kerb in the 14th corner. The Dutchman also stopped in the final laps to put on new tires.

Satisfaction on the French side, our two drivers finished the race in the top 10: Esteban Ocon secured 7th place, thanks in particular to a nice overtake on Sainz’s Ferrari towards the end of the Grand Prix. Crossing the finish line in 10th place, Pierre Gasly also overtook the Madrid driver, who was struggling towards the end of the race and finished outside the points.

8th under the flag to dameirs, Fernando Alonso finished the race in the points and this time he will not need a penalty to score in the driver’s standings. Ricciardo is the last driver to mention from the top 10 in the final standings, 9th, after his impressive comeback from 16th place on the grid.

Far, very far, Nikita Mazepin finishes last in this Portuguese Grand Prix, nearly a minute behind his teammate Mick Schumacher, who passed Nicholas Latifi’s Williams for honor.

The complete ranking of the Portuguese Grand Prix: