Lewis Hamilton now sits alone with the most wins in Formula 1 history after claiming his 92nd victory at the Portuguese Grand Prix.
Despite a crazy opening lap which left Carlos Sainz leading for McLaren, the race soon stabilised with the Briton putting in a brilliant charge during the first stint to catch and pass teammate Valtteri Bottas for the lead.
From there it was plain sailing as Hamilton was in a league of his own to become F1’s first winner at Portimao.
Race Review:
At the start, Hamilton held the lead into Turn 1 as Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez touched in Turn 4, spinning the Racing Point to the inside of the track.
A few spots of rain then caused chaos in the middle sector as Lewis dropped to third behind Bottas and Sainz, as both McLaren’s cruise to the front in the damp conditions.
The track soon dried again, however, and it didn’t take long for the two Mercedes’ and Verstappen to regain the 1-2-3.
Another big gainer opening lap was Kimi Raikkonen, who ran as high as sixth at one point from P16, but he too began to fall back down the field when the circuit dried.
As the race stabilised, Verstappen began to struggle on the soft tyres allowing Mercedes pulled clear. Leclerc, who lost places at the start, also recovered to fourth, where he started.
Down the field, Lance Stroll and Lando Norris made contact as the frustrated Canadian tried a daredevil move on the outside into Turn 1.
Both would pit for new front wings and Lance would get a five-second penalty for the incident and another one for four breaches of track limits, ruining his race.
At the front, tyre problems for Bottas allowed Hamilton to catch and cruise past the sister Mercedes for the lead on the main straight.
Verstappen would soon ditch his soft tyres pits for mediums, perhaps sensing an opportunity to pounce on the Finn.
But the advantage of fresh rubber doesn’t materialise as the graining phase passed for Bottas, allowing both Mercedes’ to extend their first stint.
Indeed, it was Lap 40 when Hamilton finally stopped for the hard tyres, with his teammate following suit a lap later.
Once the stops were completed, the race at the front was over with Hamilton going on to take the chequered flag a massive 25 seconds clear of Bottas, claiming the point for fastest lap as well.
Verstappen would have to settle for third, just under nine seconds behind.
Behind the top three, Leclerc was in no-mans-land for much of the race in a very impressive fourth for Ferrari.
The midfield fight was led by Perez in the closing laps, following a remarkable recovery after his Lap 1 contact with Verstappen.
However, as the Mexican’s pace faded, that would allow Pierre Gasly up to fifth for AlphaTauri and Sainz to sixth.
Esteban Ocon completed the longest first stint of anyone at 53 laps, but hopes of a charge through the pack on softs didn’t materialise in eighth.
Renault teammate Daniel Ricciardo finished outside the top six for the first time since Hungary in ninth, as Sebastian Vettel completed the top 10 for Ferrari.
Despite a brilliant drive, Raikkonen’s race would go unrewarded in 11th, as Alex Albon endured a terrible afternoon in 12th for Red Bull.
Norris came home in 13th after his clash with Stroll, ahead of George Russell in 14th for Williams.
Antonio Giovinazzi led the two Haas’ and Nicholas Latifi, while Daniil Kvyat dropped to 19th.
Stroll would be the only retirement after parking his Racing Point.
Full results from the race can be seen below:
