92 not out.
Lewis Hamilton won an entertaining race as Formula 1 made its first-ever trip to Portimão for the 2020 Portuguese Grand Prix.
All weekend, the drivers and teams struggled to get to grips (no pun intended) with the intricacies and idiosyncrasies of the tyres at the newly resurfaced, cold track. It led to an interesting qualifying session – where Hamilton took pole on the theoretically slower, medium compound – and a manic opening few laps.
On their medium tyres, the Mercedes – and Charles Leclerc, starting fourth after another excellent qualifying performance – struggled to produce enough heat on the cold, damp surface as a light drizzle continued to fall. Hamilton, who would later describe himself as “overly cautious”, took it very easy, more than aware that he would be the effective guinea pig for those behind him.
Speaking of those behind him, a good start from Sergio Pérez saw him alongside Max Verstappen at Turn 2 but would also see him facing the wrong way moments later as the Dutchman understeered into the Racing Point and pitched him off the track. The McLarens, meanwhile, were flying. Bottas passed Hamilton for the lead towards the end of the first lap but was then himself passed by Carlos Sainz, up from seventh on the grid and fully utilising the extra heat in his soft tyres. The sister McLaren of Lando Norris was also up to fourth, from eighth on the grid, and – most impressive of all – Kimi Räikkönen had passed no fewer than 11 cars on the opening lap, clearly drawing on his two years of rallying experience.
Normality was soon restored once the medium tyres had reached temperature, however, with a top three of Bottas, Hamilton and Verstappen. For a while, the World Champion bided his time, staying around two seconds behind his teammate, but on lap 15 he made his move. Fastest lap followed fastest lap and he was soon within DRS range. It was a simple pass down the start/finish straight and, from there, Hamilton never looked back.
He built a gap of 10 seconds as Mercedes extended the first stint on both cars, before finally pitting the pair on laps 40 and 41. By the chequered flag, car number 44 had extended its lead to over 25 seconds. That is a rarity in this era of taking as little as possible out of the tyres, car and engine, but the chilly Algarve circuit meant it was a necessity to keep temperature in the tyres and, for once, Hamilton’s full potential was revealed. It was a fitting way in which to break Michael Schumacher’s all-time win record. 92 victories – a simply mind-boggling achievement and another step towards matching another Schumacher record with a seventh world title; Hamilton now has a 77-point lead in the standings with five races to go.
Verstappen spent the race in his now trademark, lonely position, unable to keep pace with the superior Mercedes but miles clear of the rest of the field. Behind him, Leclerc was similarly isolated and at least as impressive. The only non-Mercedes driver to start on the medium, the Monegasque had predictably fallen back at the start, but recovered well to fourth and was the last man to remain unlapped by the all-conquering leader.
Sergio Pérez produced an even better recovery after his clash with Verstappen on the opening lap and was running fifth in the closing laps. He would fall back, though, as he struggled on the soft tyres, first being passed by Pierre Gasly, on yet another strong weekend for the Frenchman, and then Sainz.
Esteban Ocon finished in eighth, just ahead of teammate Daniel Ricciardo, beating the Honey Badger for the first time since the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix back at the start of August. And Sebastian Vettel at least claimed his first point since Mugello on another weekend where he was thoroughly outclassed by Leclerc.
All in all, Portimão delivered a great race. The conditions helped in mixing things up somewhat, but there was some great wheel-to-wheel racing throughout the field – first Räikkonen and Sainz and then former teammates Pérez and Ocon running side-by-side for multiple corners. And it will now forever be etched into Formula 1 folklore as the venue for Hamilton’s record-breaking victory.
Clouds Gather Over Albon
Red Bull management’s relentless defence of Alexander Albon this season noticeably started to slip this weekend, with Team Principal Christian Horner saying that the Thai driver “needed to bounce back with strong weekends from start to finish at Portimão and Imola” to claim a Red Bull seat for next year.
He failed in the first of those two objectives this weekend, unfortunately. Whilst ‘only’ half a second down on Verstappen in qualifying, Albon suffered another poor start and the two-stop strategy he ended up on only made matters worse as he was unable to make progress through the midfield. Being lapped by his teammate topped off another race to forget.
He would appear to be safe in his seat through to the end of 2020, but – whilst there are seemingly tensions between Red Bull and Gasly which reduce one threat to Albon – Horner and Helmut Marko now appear to be open to the idea of hiring from outside the Red Bull driver pool and, with Pérez and Nico Hülkenberg currently unemployed next year, there are some very tempting alternatives.
Grosjean Pulls No Punches
With the announcement ahead of the Portuguese Grand Prix that Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen would be let go by the Haas team at the end of 2020, the drivers now have no reason to hold back.
Grosjean has been especially outspoken, stating that he believed the VF-20 was essentially the same car as in pre-season testing and now “the slowest in the paddock”.
“When it gets hot at the end of third practice you get the ride height and then it cools down – and then you start qualifying with a different one and every lap the rear suspension heats up and the rear ride height changes. Normally we’re struggling a little bit but this weekend the magnitude is quite bigger and we’ve got no idea why.”
There are deep-set issues at Haas. They have been going backwards rapidly since 2018 and, whilst becoming a cult hero for his entertaining appearances in Drive to Survive, surely Team Principal Guenther Steiner must be held accountable. We all hope that Gene Haas’s patience with the sport continues and we don’t lose another team, but he will know that changes need to be made to the current system.
The Portuguese Grand Prix in 60 Seconds
Answering the Burning Questions
Who will adjust best to a brand-new circuit to F1? Nobody adjusted especially well to the tricky conditions but, predictably, Mercedes came out as the class of the field.
Can Lewis Hamilton make the all-time win record his own this weekend? He can.
Which of the teams battling for third in the Constructors’ Championship will have the best weekend? It was very even between all three, with McLaren taking marginally more points than Renault and Racing Point.
Will there be any big driver line-up announcements? Not yet, but the rumours are getting more confident.
Surely we’ll get rain at one of these European October/November races? Right?! A bit of drizzle kept things interesting throughout but still no downpour.
