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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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Norris has now been cleared by Perez, having hardly fought that one into Turn 1.

Tsunoda gives no trouble to the track limits as he dives up the inside of Russell at Turn 5 to take 15th place.

Norris is coming under increasing pressure from Perez, who feels Norris overtook him off-track. Sainz is now a further 2.5s off the pair.

Many, many drivers being pinged for exceeding track limits at Turn 1. Tsunoda has been warned over his team radio he is already on the bubble having gone over the limits twice.

Hamilton, having been fumbling with the keys for the past couple of laps, has finally unlocked the pace in that Mercedes - and he's going after Bottas now.
Quote
"I'm just a sitting duck on the straights, unbelievable," says Verstappen. He's not massively happy.

The F1 stewards have decided no investigation is necessary for the clash between Raikkonen and Giovinazzi. That'll be one for the Alfa Romeo bosses to sort out after the race.

Verstappen makes a slight error in that final corner, however, and this gives Hamilton a lovely tow into the first corner! The Mercedes is back in second, and keeps the Red Bull at bay.

Ricciardo's recovery from his poor qualifying continues, with the McLaren driver up to 11th. Maybe he gained inspiration from fellow Aussie Jack Miller who won today's MotoGP race at Jerez. (Sorry for the spoilers).

Turn 1 comes too soon for Verstappen this time around, who can't quite get enough of a draft on the leading Mercedes. Still very close, however.

DRS has now been enabled - watch out for that playing a role in overtaking on the main straight.

Verstappen's really close to Bottas now - so it seems that the Finnish driver's start might have inadvertently gifted Red Bull a chance at taking the lead...

Russell loses another place at the start of lap 8, this time to Stroll, with the Williams driver now in 15th place.

Leclerc gets ahead of Ocon to claim seventh place, while it was a poor restart for Russell who has dropped three places behind Ricciardo, Giovinazzi and Alonso.

Hamilton got caught out and that let Verstappen steam past into turn 1! Sainz also lost out, allowing Perez and Norris to pass - and Norris cruises past Perez into turn 5! It's all happening.
Green flag
Bottas finally pulls the trigger and gets us underway!
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Hamilton asks if the team can keep an eye on his brakes - Bono replies that there's "nothing to worry about at the moment".
Safety car
Safety car in this lap. We'll be up and running shortly.
 

Giovinazzi looks to have not suffered too badly in the clash as he continues in P12 in the safety car train. Before the safety car came out, Ricciardo had made good progress and is now P13 right behind the Italian.

Now that the debris has been cleared up from the start/finish straight, the safety car will no longer lead the field through the pitlane.

Replays show Raikkonen closing up to the rear of Giovinazzi extremely quickly and in a jostling of racing lines the Alfa Romeos make contact on the main straight. The Finn's car loses its front wing which then lodges itself into his front wheels and it is race over.

A replay of the start, then - Perez dropped behind Sainz after an iffy start. Ocon was passed by Norris, but the Frenchman got him back at Turn 5 to set up Norris's later overtake.
Safety car

The safety car is out – and Raikkonen is also out of this race having come to a stop at Turn 1.

Crash

Ah, we may have cursed Raikkonen there! At the end of lap one he clashes with Alfa Romeo team-mate Giovinazzi on the main straight and loses his front wing.

That's a cracking move from Norris, streaking around the outside of Ocon at turn 10 and claiming sixth! Lovely stuff.

All very well behaved in the squabbling midfield with no major contact in the first few corners. Raikkonen, who took off like a rocket here last year, has already gained two places and is up to P13.

Lights out
And the Portuguese Grand Prix is go! Bottas keeps the lead from Hamilton, with Perez dropping behind Sainz off the line.
Anyway, the cars are lining up. You could cut the tension with a front wing endplate...
I should have channeled my inner Mike Wozniak and gone for "tick tock, it's race o'clock".
Green flag
Here goes the formation lap.
Row 9 is Little Canada, isn't it? Stroll and Latifi line up ahead of the Haas duo.
We've got Sainz, Ocon, Norris, Gasly, Vettel, Stroll and Raikkonen on softs - everyone else starts on mediums.
We've got lots of elevation at this circuit, hopefully it yields a rollercoaster of a race.
Five minutes to go.
Somewhat further down the grid is a Mr. D. Ricciardo - who's not going to just sit and accept P16 on the grid. Expect a charge of some kind.
Sun
The risk of rain currently is at 0%. Air temp is at 20 degrees C, and the track temp is almost double that. There's your weather report for this encounter.
Not pictured in the Portuguese national anthem band: the Casio keyboard someone's playing the main tune on.
And don't forget that George Russell hustled his Williams to P11, a good effort but has the side-effect of people continuing to think "Mr Saturday" is a hilarious nickname...

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

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