© Vladimir RysBulls Pick Up P2 And P4 In PortimãoMax picks up podium number 45 as Checo claims a season-best finish in Portugal.
Max And Checo During Race Start© Getty Images
At the start pole sitter Valtteri Bottas got away well in his Mercedes to take the lead ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton, with Max holding P3 as the field streamed towards turn one. Behind them though, Sergio got some wheel spin off the line and lost out to soft-tyre starter Carlos Sainz of Ferrari and slipped to fifth place. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon also lost a place, dropping to seventh as McLaren’s Lando Norris stole through to P6.
The safety car was deployed at the start of lap two, as Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen collided with teammate Antonio Giovinazzi and lost his front wing. He pulled over and drove towards an escape road but with debris scattered across the main straight the SC headed out on track.
When racing resumed on lap eight, Bottas held onto the lead but Max got a good run on Hamilton and passed the champion around the outside into turn one. Sergio also made a good re-start and got ahead of Sainz, but later in the lap the Mexican was ambushed by Norris who went down the inside into the hairpin to sneak past the Red Bull. Sergio was soon back up to fourth, passing Norris under DRS into turn one on the following lap.
Max’s stay in P2 was short, however. He had a moment of oversteer in turn 14 and that allowed Hamilton to close on the main straight. Aided by DRS he got past the Red Bull in turn one to take second place.
The Battle Continued In Portugal© Getty Images
The Mercedes drivers then began to eke out a gap to Max and by lap 18 Hamilton was 1.5s clear of the Dutchman, with Checo a further eight seconds back. Norris lay fifth ahead of Sainz, with the Spaniard’s Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc in P7. Ocon had slipped to eighth ahead of AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo.
The lead changed on lap 20 when Hamilton got a good exit out of the final corner and pounced at the end of the pit straight to overtake the Finn around the outside of turn one.
Max now had to get past Bottas, but as the laps ticked away the Dutchman couldn’t get close enough in the turbulent air behind the Mercedes to mount an attack and that allowed Hamilton to stretch to a four-second lead by half distance.
Pit Crew Ready And Waiting© Getty Images
The Team then opted to bring Max in for a change of rubber and at the end of lap 35 he arrowed towards pit lane for a 2.3s stop for hard tyres. Mercedes immediately tried to cover the move by pitting Bottas at the end of the next tour, but the undercut worked in Max’s favour and while Bottas emerged from his pit stop marginally ahead, the Red Bull driver had temperature in his tyres and passed the Mercedes into turn five.
Hamilton then pitted for hard tyres and handed the lead to Sergio, who had already been told by the Team that he would be doing a long first stint.
On lap 41 the Mexican held a 11.8s lead over Hamilton, with Max third, 3.4s behind the Mercedes man.
Hamilton began to quickly eat into Perez’s lead and after the Red Bull was seriously impeded by the backmarking Nikita Mazepin of Haas, the Mercedes driver was just 5.5s behind the Mexican on lap 47. Mazepin was later handed a time penalty for ignoring blue flags.
On lap 51 Hamilton made his move on Checo, passing the Mexican driver into turn one. With his mediums at the end of their useful life following an impressive stint, the Team brought Sergio in for a set of used soft tyres for the final 15 laps. He emerged in fourth place 25 seconds behind Bottas and soon set the fastest lap of the race but thereafter his pace stabilised.
Portuguese Grand Prix 2021: Race
Side-By-Side And Into P2© Getty Images
Checo Manages An Almighty Stint On The Mediums© Getty Images
Sparks For Sergio As He Sends It© Getty Images
Heading Through The Pits During An Early Safety Car© Getty Images
Checo Gets Ready For Race Start© Getty Images
Checo Under Pressure At The Race Start© Getty Images
Heading Into The Last Few Laps© Getty Images
Celebrating P2 In Portugal© Getty Images
Cheering Car 33 Across The Line In P2© Getty Images
Max On His Way To The Grid© Getty Images
Max Battles With Lewis© Getty Images
The Battle Continued In Portugal© Getty Images
Pitting For Softs And A Fastest Lap Shot© Getty Images
Lights Out And Away We Go In Portgual© Getty Images
With Bottas enjoying a sizeable gap to Checo in the closing stages Mercedes opted to pit the Finn for a fresh set of soft tyres and a fastest lap attempt, which worked in the Finn’s favour as he went quickest on lap 65 of the 66.
The Team then responded by pitting Max a lap after Bottas for soft tyres, and soon after Hamilton crossed the line to take victory, Max set the fastest lap of all at 1:18.849. However, his hopes of taking the point on offer were dashed soon after the chequered flag as officials deleted his lap time for exceeding track limits at turn 14.
For Checo, it was a lonely race to fourth. The Mexican put in an epic 51-lap stint on starting medium tyres in his first stint and took the lead of the race as Max and the Mercedes made their stops, but as any chance of a safety car ebbed, his pace flagged and after his own stop he dropped to his starting position of fourth place.
Behind the top four Norris took a well-deserved fifth place for McLaren with Charles Leclerc sixth for Ferrari. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon dropped back to seventh from a starting place of sixth but for teammate Fernando Alonso it was a better day, with the Spaniard climbing from 14th on the grid to eighth place at the flag. McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo also did well, recovering from 16th place on the grid to finish ninth and the final point on offer went to AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly.
Max Picks Up His P2 Portugal Trophy© Getty Images
“Something about this track really does not suit our car and I think in general this was a bit of an off weekend in terms of grip and overall pace. We knew last year that we weren’t particularly strong here, so this year has been a bit better and we managed to finish ahead of one Mercedes, but it wasn’t quite good enough to get them both. Nevertheless, second is still a pretty good result and we always knew this season would be up and down in terms of the tracks we were strong at and the ones Mercedes were.
We scored good points here but I’m looking forward to Barcelona, a track that has more normal grip levels and where I have good memories.
"The race today was pretty decent though and we were all constantly pushing which was nice. I tried to put the pressure on Valtteri in the beginning as he was struggling for grip, but clearly Lewis behind had more pace and he made it past us both. I was then able to undercut Valtteri in the pit stop but you could clearly see on the hard tyres we were just a bit slower, some laps we could match Lewis and others it was just not possible. Towards the end of the race Valtteri was even coming back at me which showed their pace today. It’s a shame the Fastest Lap got taken away, stupid track limits [laughs], they should just put gravel back! It is what it is, we always try and I had the gap so we went for it. We scored good points here but I’m looking forward to Barcelona, a track that has more normal grip levels and where I have good memories. I think we will also see a clearer picture of how teams have been progressing. It’s a long season ahead so a lot can happen.”
“Today was a busy race on my side! Lando managed to get past me at Turn 4 but I thought he had all four wheels off the track so I didn’t defend thinking he’d have to give the place back due to track limits but that wasn’t the case. It was a misjudgment on my side and a mistake but being stuck behind Lando compromised our race and cost us a lot of time. When I got past him my pace was good but I think the damage had already been done. Afterwards we tried to do something different with strategy by going long in the hope of a Safety Car but it didn’t work out and fourth was the maximum we could do.
"We are definitely making good progression with the car and the race pace, I am understanding it more and more with the extra kilometres I am driving. Of course there are still areas I need to get on top of and improve but it’s just a process and we’ll continue working hard for next week in Barcelona. It’s been very close again with Mercedes all weekend and I think this will be the case for the entire season. Some weekends they will be faster and others we will be so we just have to make sure we keep our heads down and continue working hard.”
“Looking at today we can see that this championship is going to be a marathon and not a sprint. It’s so tight and it’s going to be all about marginal gains. Max drove the wheels off the car again today, snatching second from Mercedes and it’s super tight between him and Lewis. With Max, it was frustrating to lose the point for Fastest Lap at the end of the race due to track limits which I think we agree need to be consistent throughout the race weekend.
On the whole, second and fourth place means plenty of points and there’s only eight separating Max and Lewis in the championship.
"Similarly with Sergio, he lost out to a case of track limits when he was overtaken by the McLaren but once he got back past, his race pace was good so he is definitely getting there and the races are coming together for him. In clean air his pace was matching that of the leaders so I’m pleased with the progress he is making. On the whole, second and fourth place means plenty of points and there’s only eight separating Max and Lewis in the championship. Barcelona next week will be the benchmark and we’ll get our heads down until then when hopefully we get a clearer picture of the strengths and weaknesses of all the cars.”
| Position | Driver | Team | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Lewis Hamilton | Max Verstappen | Valtteri Bottas | Sergio Pérez | Lando Norris | Charles Leclerc | Esteban Ocon | Fernando Alonso | Daniel Ricciardo | Pierre Gasly |
| Mercedes | Red Bull Racing Honda | Mercedes | Red Bull Racing Honda | McLaren | Ferrari | Alpine | Alpine | McLaren | AlphaTauri |
