Race Review: Portimão

This week, Formula 1 was in Portugal. A fairly decent race, but uneventful one compared to Bahrain and Imola, saw another Verstappen Hamilton battle, with the Brit coming in first.

The Algarve International Circuit is a 4.653km (2.981 miles) track with 15 turns. The drivers completed 66 laps of the track commonly known as the Portimão Circuit.

After 125 laps were deleted on the Friday of the 2020 race, the stewards revised the track limits, only focusing on Turn 1, 4, 5, 14 and 15, however they still caused issues this weekend.

Qualifying left Verstappen with a pole position lap time being deleted. Bottas put in an excellent performance, qualifying on pole, with Hamilton joining him on the 2nd row of the grid. In P3 was Verstappen, P4 Perez, P5 Sainz, P6 Ocon, P7 Norris, P8 Leclerc, P9 Gasly, P10 Vettel, P11 Russell, P12 Giovinazzi, P13 Alonso, P14 Tsunoda, P15 Raïkkönen, P16 Ricciardo, P17 Stroll, P18 Latifi, P19 Schumacher, P20 Mazepin. It was a shock to see the McLaren of Ricciardo in P16 after failing to make it out of Q1.

The race started with Bottas zooming off the line, getting away well and keeping P1; Sainz took P4 from Perez with Norris overtaking Ocon for P6. A crash from Raïkkönen, who went into the back of his teammate, in Lap 2 brought out the safety car which stayed out until the end of Lap 6. The restart meant Verstappen took P2 from Hamilton and Norris took P4 from Perez, however, Hamilton took the position back in Lap 11 after Verstappen oversteered at Turn 14 and Perez took P4 back from Norris in Lap 15.

Hamilton then took first from Bottas in Lap 20, with Verstappen closing the gap between him and the Finn in P2. The pit stops started at Lap 23 changing the order as you would expect it to. Bottas stopped before Hamilton during Lap 28, which put Verstappen into P2 as the Dutchman was the first of the top 4 to pull the box trigger. As Hamilton came in, Perez took poll having not stopped yet. It took to Lap 51 for Hamilton to take back the lead, causing Perez to finally box. A factor in Hamilton's overtake was Mazepin holding him up in Lap 49, despite a blue flag which saw the Russian receive a 5-second penalty, however, the pace on the Mercedes meant the overtake was probably inevitable.

Lap 58 saw Alonso work his way into P8 with his teammate Ocon in P7. Schumacher overtook Latifi in Lap 63, with Ricciardo overtaking Sainz to take P9 having worked his way up from P16. Both Bottas and Verstappen took a 4th pit stop in the hopes of getting the fastest lap, as the gap was big enough between them to take the pit stop without affecting the standings. Hamilton crossed the line first with Verstappen setting the fastest lap, however, Bottas took the title in the end as the Dutchman's lap was deleted for track limits at Turn 14.

The results were as follows. Hamilton finished in P1, Verstappen P2, Bottas P3, Perez P4, Norris P5, Leclerc P6, Ocon P7, Alonso P8, Ricciardo P9, Gasly P10, Sainz P11, Giovinazzi P12, Vettel P13, Stroll P14, Tsunoda P15, Russell P16, Schumacher P17, Latifi P18, Mazepin P19, with Räikkönen DNF.

Driver Of The Day: Ricciardo

Ricciardo did not have a great Saturday. The Australian driver failed to make it into Q2 and started P16 on the grid. However, he pulled through in the race on Sunday working his way back into the points to finish P9. It was a brilliant drive and hopefully, he can continue to get settled in the McLaren and keep up with his teammate Norris!

Crash Of The Day: Räikkönen

Compared to Imola, the Räikkönen's crash seemed like nothing. After making up two places in the first lap, he caught the back of his teammates Giovinazzi's car, ripping off the front wing which then got stuck under his front tyres. He pulled into the gravel trap after Turn 1 and retired from the race. The Finn took full responsibility for the crash, saying he was distracted whilst changing settings on his steering wheel.

Overtake Of The Day: Norris

The British driver had a brilliant race, full of some fantastic overtakes of drivers such as Perez. His overtake of Ocon in the first lap of the race coming out of Turn 11 and into Turn 12 is what gives him the title this week. He pulled a beautiful move, charging around the outside of the Alpine at Turn 11 which then gave him the ground to cut past Ocon to move up into P6. The commentators even remarked 'what a move from Lando Norris' with himself calling the move 'great' in a post-race interview.

Biggest Heartbreak: Verstappen

Verstappen changed his pit strategy in the last few laps, coming in for a new set of tyres to try and get the fastest lap for an extra point. As he crossed the finish line, he thought he had it, but a track limit violation at Turn (14) meant it was deleted. Sadly, he was not told until the live Sky Sports post-race interview. This was just salt in the wound; Verstappen would have been on poll if his Q3 qualifying time had not been deleted, also due to track limit violations.

Best Radio Comment: Verstappen

'I'll just visit the dentists after the weekend'. After complaining about the vibrations on the car, the Dutchman clapped back at his race engineer with this funny one-liner. You can hear the best radios from this weekend here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPBV-bNxU5A

Takeaways

The weekend showed that Bottas is still up for a fight. In an interview with Sky Sports, he spoke about how he should not be counted out of the championship, which was backed up by his pole position result. He was repeatedly setting the fastest lap times and came away with the title and the extra point at the end of the weekend, showing that he has the pace to keep up with Hamilton and Verstappen. This is exciting news for the drivers and constructors championship battle, particularly as Perez showed what he was capable of in the Red Bull this weekend finally finishing in the top 4.

The weekend was also a great one for Alonso. After a shaky return to the sport, the driver is back on the move, working to prove exactly why he's a giant in the sport. His teammate Ocon also had a great weekend, finishing in P7, showing the car had some real pace. Is this a turning point for the Alpine team?

Sadly, the Williams were not able to follow through from their qualifying. Whilst they pulled out a great performance in qualifying, with Russell starting P11, they quickly fell down the grid during the race. During the race, Russell called the car 'undriveable' twice over the radio - clearly, something changed from Saturday through to Sunday and they need to make sure that it doesn't happen in Spain next week if they have any hope of getting points this season.

Moreover, this weekend showed that there is some really exciting talent coming up through the ranks. 22-year-old Callum Ilot drove for Alpha Romeo during FP1. The team's reserve driver, and Ferrari's test driver, finished 2nd in F2 last season coming in behind Mick Schumacher. Despite some head wobbling during his laps, the British driver put in a solid effort, finishing P17 which was ahead of his former competitor Schumacher. When speaking to Formula 1, he said:

"I'm very happy with how it went. As a team, [my fastest effort] was not a bad lap – a bit windy down the straight, I have to say. Overall, not a bad first run. We got through everything we needed to as a team and really positive, kept working, kept gaining consistency and finished with everything we needed to."

This new talent is a very exciting prospect for the sport in the coming seasons.

Portugal was the first race in the doubleheader; this weekend we have Spain so stay tuned for another great weekend of racing.