On the same track that reached the record mark of 92 victories in the Formula 1, overcoming Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton returned to give a show. The wind in Portimão won, the difficulties with the grip, the good start of Bottas and the pressure of Verstappen.
There are three races of the season, all with Hamilton and Verstappen in the first two places. The Englishman won the first and now the third. The Dutchman won the second. This Sunday’s race had everything to end in a double for Mercedes, but Verstappen showed, once again, that the battle against him in the year will not be easy. The next assault will be next Sunday, in Barcelona.
Red Bull was fast over the weekend, Verstappen had the chance to pole (the lap was deleted), but Mercedes’ race pace was very strong. The young Dutchman goes to sleep with a clear conscience. At the start of the race, after the restart (the safety car entered the track after Raikkonen’s accident), Verstappen passed Hamilton – but the Englishman gave the change back later.
And, after a single pit stop, Verstappen won Bottas’ second position by overtaking on the track. The icing on the cake would be the best around. He changed tires on the penultimate lap to fly on the last. Did! But he left the track limits at turn 14 and had his lap deleted, just like in the qualifying. The extra point went to Bottas.
Perez, with the other Red Bull, had an honest race and finished fourth – but he never went anywhere close to keeping pace with the Mercedes and Verstappen.
The rest of the grid can now be called middle class, including Ferrari. The best of the rest was Lando Norris again, who finished fifth with McLaren. Ricciardo, who had been a shame in the qualifier, still made a recovery run and ended up ninth with the English team’s other car.
In the other internal battles, Leclerc’s clear advantage against Sainz at Ferrari. Leclerc finished sixth, with Sainz tenth and the two Alpines among them. Ocon finished ahead of Alonso, but the Spaniard’s race was very good, with a strategy of delaying the pit stop and gaining positions on the track. The ex-Renault shows evolution in relation to the first tests.
Of the other former champions on the track, two pitiful performances. Raikkonen made a great start with the Alfa Romeo, but early on he inexplicably hit the back of his teammate Giovinazzi. And Vettel, who started well with Aston Martin, went down during the race and finished 14th, behind Stroll, the other driver of the team.
The roller coaster of Portimão again provided many overtaking and emotions. It’s a spectacular track, which appeared in the season
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