2021 Portuguese GP Review: Hamilton takes dominant win in Portimao

Lewis Hamilton took his second win of the season in a dominant display at Portimao.

It was career win number 97 for the Brit, who never looked back after overtaking team-mate Valterri Bottas on lap 18.

The race got off to somewhat of a false start as Kimi Raikkonen collided with Alfa Romeo team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi on the start-finish straight at the beginning of lap two, deploying the safety car. Raikkonen was out while Giovinazzi was unaffected, coming home 12th.

Bottas managed the restart well, while Max Verstappen made a great move on Hamilton around the outside of turn one as it looked like another blockbuster battle was in store.

However, Verstappen would suffer a snap of oversteer on turn-in to turn 14 on lap 10, allowing Hamilton to within striking distance on the mammoth main straight. The seven-time champion made a tidy move into turn one before defending the Red Bull’s counter-attack at turn three.

After a first lap overtake, Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Perez would get back past McLaren’s Lando Norris into turn one on lap 15, opening the door for a creative strategy for the Milton Keynes outfit.

Despite looking to be managing the race well, Bottas over-defended into turn one as Hamilton made a sweeping move to the outside of Fin to take the lead.

And Bottas would fall further, Red Bull making up a second on Mercedes in the pit lane. Bottas emerged from the pits in front of Verstappen, but the Dutch driver made good use of his warm tyres, pulling a switchback through turn four and making the move stick in five to take second.

Meanwhile, Perez was left out in the race lead, as Red Bull played the long game in hope of a safety car but eventually admitted defeat on lap 51. The Mexican emerged in fourth, where he would finish for his best run of the year so far.

The mid-field and rear of the pack offered a few battles throughout the race, including a fun battle between Haas’ Mick Schumacher and Williams’ Nicolas Latifi, the German would triumph, splitting Latifi and George Russell.

After qualifying in fifth, Carlos Sainz Jr. would have a difficult day, citing strategy as the problem as he dropped out of the points. Fernando Alonso and Pierre Gasly passed the Spaniard on laps 58 and 66 respectively to drop Ferrari’s latest recruit to P11. Team-mate Charles Leclerc finished sixth.

Norris retained third in the overall points standings, finishing a strong fifth as team-mate Daniel Riccardo recovered from 16th on the grid to snatch two points in ninth.

Alpine had their strongest run of the season Esteban Ocon took seventh, with Alonso claiming eighth.

Once again, controversial Haas man Nikita Mazepin’s weekend wasn’t without incident. The Russian picked up a five second penalty and a licence point for ignoring blue flags. Fellow rookie Yuki Tsunoda recovered from early track limits issues to finish penalty free in 15th.

But it was all about Hamilton, who controlled the race perfectly and finished almost thirty second clear of Verstappen after the Red Bull man pitted in vain to try and claim the fastest lap bonus point. The Mercedes man’s lead is out to eight points as F1 enters its first back-to-back rounds of the season, heading to Circuit de Catalunya next weekend.

Race Result:

1. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull, 29.148s)

3. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes, 33.530s)

4. Sergio Perez (Red Bull, 39.735s)

5. Lando Norris (McLaren, 51.369s)

6. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari, 55.781s)

7. Esteban Ocon (Alpine, 63.749s)

8. Fernando Alonso (Alpine, 64.808s)

9. Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren, 75.461s)

10. Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri, 76.559s)

11. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari, 79.060s)

12. Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo, 1 lap)

13. Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin, 1 lap)

14. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin, 1 lap)

15. Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri, 1 lap)

16. George Russell (Williams, 1 lap)

17. Mick Schumacher (Haas, 1 lap)

18. Nicholas Latifi (Williams, 2 laps)

19. Nikita Mazepin (Haas, 2 laps)

DNF. Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo, Crashed)