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Formula 1 Portuguese GP

F1 Portuguese GP Live Commentary and Updates - Race day

Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri AT02

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"We're looking at Plan A plus 10, Plan A plus 10," Perez is told. The tyre whisperer is keeping a decent pace out front - at least, when Mazepin doesn't block him ahead of being lapped.

At the start of lap 44 Ocon makes the move on Sainz. With the aid of DRS, Ocon keeps it pinned around the outside of the Ferrari at the first corner to claim seventh place.

Bottas even gets a message from up high, as Toto Wolff tries to gee up his driver to clear Verstappen.
Stopwatch
Hamilton now responds to Bottas with a 1m21.380s, and is now within 10s of leader Perez - who is still yet to pit.
Stopwatch
Bottas has picked up the pace now, setting a new fastest lap at the end of lap 42 with a 1m21.407s.

Having released Ferrari team-mate Leclerc a few laps ago, Sainz is now fending off pressure from Ocon in the Alpine. That's a fight for seventh place after Alonso and Ricciardo pitted ahead.

Pit stop
Ricciardo takes the hard tyres, after a bit of a slow stop with a sticky front-right wheel. He comes out 10th, ahead of Alonso.
Stopwatch
Hamilton lays down a 1m21.494s on his new boots, a new fastest lap.
Pit stop
Alonso now pits from sixth, taking on the hard tyre for the remainder of the race. He comes out behind Gasly, but ahead of Vettel in that midpack.
 
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"We are unsafe to Perez on a safety car," Bottas is told.

As we alluded to earlier, the fun we hoped for might have been manufactured by Ferrari, as Leclerc gets the easiest overtake of his life to pass Sainz for P9. Fair to assume that one was radioed.

Perez is now leading, then, and looks set to be going long on his tyres to maybe get softs towards the end.
Pit stop
Hamilton now pits for the hard tyre, getting a much better run off the pitlane, and stays ahead of the Red Bull.

Just ahead of Bottas coming out of the pits, Russell retakes a position from Williams team-mate Latifi under braking at the first turn. Action everywhere you look!

Pit stop
Bottas responds to Verstappen, but his pitstop is a second slower. Although Bottas stays out ahead, Verstappen charges past at turn 5 to claim the position!
Pit stop
Verstappen cashes in his chips and elects to pit. Hard tyres for the Red Bull driver, and comes out in fourth - such is the gap to the rest.

Ocon vs Gasly - Part 2. Aided by DRS Ocon blasts around the outside of Gasly at the first corner to take back that position he lost in the pits. That puts the Alpine driver up to P11.

The pace at the front is beginning to rise, as the medium tyres still seem to have some life in them. If they can keep that going, they might prefer a later switch to softs instead...

Leclerc, currently in P10, is finding good pace on the hard tyres and is closing up to Ferrari team-mate Sainz who is on the mediums. So that could be fun a little later.

Stopwatch
It's now a 1m21.934s for Hamilton that time around, as he continues to break-build like a top-class snooker player.

Russell, who was a bit of a sitting duck on aging tyres, pits for Williams to drop to P18. It looked like quite a slow stop as he comes out just ahead of team-mate Latifi, who needs no second invitation and overtakes his team-mate a lap later.

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Bottas is being told he'll stop first out of the two Mercedes when the gap gets to 3.5s behind Hamilton. That might be soon - as it's now 3.3s.
Stopwatch
Hamilton ends lap 28 by going even faster, however, dropping a 1m21.995s. He's now 3s up on Bottas.
A personal best for Leclerc that time around, so the hards seem to be coming in nicely.
Stopwatch
Hamilton drops a 1m22.138s for the fastest lap, clearly struggling out there on his worn mediums.
Pit stop
Leclerc now pits from P5 to grab the hard tyre. That'll be keenly watched by the frontrunners.
Pit stop

Gasly pits a lap later than Ocon and comes out ahead of him. That's a win for AlphaTauri as it will become a net eighth place once the pitstops shake out.

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"You've got the pace here," Verstappen is told. He's faster per lap than Bottas, but just doesn't seem equipped to nip past him on DRS.
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"There's definitely a lot of wear today," Hamilton says, angling for a switch to the hard tyre. He's now just done a lap half-a-tenth off his best.
Pit stop

A handful of the midfield runners have also pitted for the first time in this race - Ocon, Vettel, Giovinazzi and Tsunoda - to shuffle down the running order.

Norris now takes his turn to pit, ditching the softs for a set of mediums to react to Sainz. McLaren took a second longer in the box, but Norris remains ahead of his former team-mate.
Pit stop
Sainz ends his tenure on the soft tyre, coming in for a fresh set of mediums. A nice 2.2s stop there, and forms out behind Russell for P15.

The gaps within the midfield are starting to stretch slightly as the drivers find the respective car performance levels. Gasly is the only one within one second of another driver, chasing fellow French driver Ocon for P8.

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Bottas is now right in the clutches of Verstappen. Hamilton says his "tyres are pretty shot", no doubt a legacy of being in Bottas' wake for so long.
My prediction was wrong! Hamilton grabbed DRS at the end of lap 19, and starts lap 20 by steaming around the outside of Bottas at Turn 1!

Ricciardo must have a direct line to this live text commentary, as he responds immediately by charging around the outside of Vettel at the first corner at the start of lap 18.

Hamilton dropped out of DRS range on that lap, having taken a wider line through Turn 13. But the slipstream still helped on the start-finish straight, bringing the British driver back into play.
Since Motorsport.com's F1 editor Jon Noble erroneously believes I own a crystal ball, I'm going to make a prediction: Hamilton will wait this out, let Bottas pit first and do one of "those" in-laps.

Honey Badger watch: Ricciardo is tucked up behind Vettel right on the cusp of the points-paying positions, but so far has not found a way past the Aston Martin driver.

By: Jake Boxall-Legge, Haydn Cobb, Stephen Lickorish

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