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Lewis Hamilton edged out Valtteri Bottas to claim a landslide victory at the Portuguese Grand Prix and break Formula 1’s all-time winning record.
Hamilton fell to third place in a manic first two laps that ended with McLaren’s Carlos Sainz leading the way, but he fought back to crush Bottas’s hopes.
After both Mercedes passed Sainz, Hamilton followed Bottas before taking the lead on lap 20.
From there, Hamilton dominated for his 92nd career Grand Prix victory.
Hamilton received a standing ovation from the socially estranged crowd, before celebrating with team members and then a long hug with Father Anthony.
Hamilton said he “owed everything” to his Mercedes team, adding: “I could only have dreamed of being where I am today.
“I didn’t have a magic ball when I decided to come to this team and partner with these great people, but here I am.
“Everything we do together, we all row in the same direction and that is why we are doing what we are doing.
“And my dad is here and my stepmom Linda and Roscoe [Hamilton’s dog]. It will take some time for it to fully sink in. I was still pushing hard when I crossed the line. I can’t find the words right now. “
How did everything unfold?
His victory, on a humiliating day for his teammate Bottas, gave Hamilton a 77-point lead in the championship as he edged closer to a seventh world title, which would equal Schumacher’s other record.
Hamilton had to do it the hard way, with cool temperatures and a pinch of rain at the start that left his Mercedes without grip on its medium tires on the first lap, in which he was overtaken by both Bottas and Sainz.
Sainz, using his soft tires to great advantage over the mid-shoe Mercedes, produced a stellar first lap from seventh on the grid and passed Bottas for the lead at turn five on lap two.
But once the Mercedes tires reached temperature, they wasted no time dispatching the McLaren and disappeared in a race of their own.
Hamilton never allowed Bottas to get more than a couple of seconds ahead and then after 15 laps he started picking up the pace, setting one fast lap after another to get close to the Finn and then go through the lead at turn one.
Once ahead, Hamilton outpaced his teammate, taking a more than seven-second lead over the next 10 laps, and continued to drift a bit further for the remainder of the race.
Hamilton extended his lead even further after they made their pit stops, as he was able to put the hard tires in his temperature window more effectively than his teammate.
The 35-year-old’s only concern was cramps in the final 10 laps, but it didn’t seem to affect him unduly and he still crossed the line 25 seconds ahead of his teammate.
It was a masterful performance, befitting the monumental nature of his achievement, supplanting Schumacher at the top of the all-time win charts, where the German had been for 19 years.
The Algarve track offers a pleasure
It was an exciting race on a new track for F1, with overtaking and incidents all over the field.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was third, after falling to fifth on the manic opening lap, while Charles Leclerc was impressive to regain fourth place in the Ferrari after he too struggled to hold on in the opening laps on medium tires. and fell to the eighth. .
Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly was outstanding in taking fifth place, grabbing the spot with a delightful movement around the outside of Racing Point’s Sergio Perez with two laps remaining.
Perez drove a strong race too, recovering from a first lap collision with Verstappen and a spin, forcing him to stop for new tires and drop at the end.
Pérez was under pressure from Sainz on the final lap, but was able to hold off McLaren, with the Renault of Esteban Ocon and Daniel Ricciardo and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel in close proximity.
Kimi Raikkonen was out of the points, after an outstanding first lap, climbing from 16th on the grid to seventh on his soft tires, and then passing Leclerc’s Ferrari for sixth, before his lack of pace. Alpha will be noticeable once the race has stabilized. and started backing up.
Driver of the day
What happens next
Next weekend, F1 moves to Imola in Italy, a historic, challenging and popular track that holds a race for the first time since 2006.
