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Formula 1
Portuguese GP
F1 Portuguese GP Live Updates - race day
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At the front, Bottas still leads with a healthy 2.3s gap over Hamilton. He's also got the fastest lap so far.
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"Left front is dead, mate", Verstappen reports.
Pit stop
Raikkonen duly pits at the end of lap 11 to trade his softs for a new set of mediums. That puts him down to 20th and last for the time being.
Leclerc is now back into fourth, passing Sainz with DRS.
Raikkonen won't be enjoying the lack of speed on the straights his Alfa Romeo possesses as he gets overtaken again on the main straight. Gasly is the benefactor this time to take eighth place.
Leclerc's now right on Sainz's tail. They'll be team-mates next year, and Sainz might now wish he was in that Ferrari as it seems to have a splash of pace.
Stroll has been shown the black and white flag on lap 10. He's been crossing those track limits quite often and the rules are if any driver does it more than three times they get shown said flag. If he continues that trend he'll be in trouble with the race stewards.
Leclerc now steams past Norris, calm as you like with the DRS. Fifth place is his reward for that, and Norris doesn't have the pace to stay with him.
Normality is returning to the F1 pecking order, as a lap later Raikkonen loses seventh place to Ricciardo using the DRS to power around the outside of the Alfa Romeo in the charge down to Turn 1.
And indeed, Verstappen deploys DRS to clear Sainz and grab third. So, it's largely back to some degree of normality - for better or for worse...
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That early threat of rain appears to have eased, for now, with the pace picking up after those slippery first laps. That gives Leclerc enough encouragement to get past Raikkonen with the aid of DRS at Turn 1 to take sixth place off the Finn.
Hamilton has cleared Sainz too, and it shouldn't be long for Verstappen to get past either as Sainz is struggling with tyre performance now.
And Bottas re-passes Sainz to retake the lead! Sainz is now holding Hamilton, as Verstappen was rapid on the previous lap to join this battle.
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The race stewards have decided no investigation will be necessary for the clash between Perez and Verstappen. Not sure Racing Point will agree.
Bottas has now got the tyres up to temperature, posting a 1m23.195 to close in on Sainz. Verstappen has now passed Norris too.
Kvyat has also had a nightmare start to this race as drops to 19th place. In summary, those with grip in these early laps are flying and those without, well, are not.
Another fastest lap for Sainz, who's keeping a DRS-sized gap to Bottas. Verstappen's now challenging Norris for fifth, with Raikkonen racing them both.
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Perez has managed to get going again in last place after his contact with Verstappen on the opening lap. That incident has been placed under investigation by the race stewards.
Stopwatch
Sainz posts a 1m23.466s to open a lead out to Bottas.
Norris is up to fourth, who's trying to now go after Hamilton.
The two Mercedes have just dropped off, and Sainz has roared past Hamilton and then Bottas!
Sainz is in the lead! How on EARTH has this happened?!
Rain
Further back it is a terrific start by Raikkonen who is already up to sixth place at the start of lap two. Cars are all over the place struggling for grip as the rain arrives right on time for this race!
Hamilton gets a good start, but Bottas loses the place to Verstappen! Verstappen gets caught back up, Bottas pushing him aside, but the Dutchman tips Perez into a spin too!
Lights green
The 2020 Portuguese Grand Prix is goo!
Anyway, the drivers get lined up on the grid, ready for the start...
The Heineken sign above the startline says "let's goo", which sounds like an alternative catchphrase for early '00s TV show Get Your Own Back. Probably.
Green flag
The formation lap is now underway!
Tyre check: Verstappen, Perez, Albon, Sainz, Norris, Gasly, Ricciardo and Raikkonen softs. Magnussen hards, everyone else mediums.
We're going to have 66 laps of this circuit, so it's going to be a challenging race for those struggling with grip around here.
There's Chase Carey with his soon-to-be-replacement Stefano Domenicali on the grid, showing him the ropes of, well, conducting the world's fastest circus.
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Just 10 minutes to go, then, until we're underway in Portugal.
As we've said many times this weekend, this is F1's first Portuguese Grand Prix since 1996. And, having watched some of those past races in anticipation, they were corkers.
We have a risk of rain percentage: 40%. Which, judging by previous form, means the risk of rain is 0%.
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There's also been traffic issues of Paul Ricardian proportions. Our race team duo Smith and Kalinauckas struggled to carve through the congestion, but made it into the media centre with an hour to spare.
Currently, it's a 6.7m/s tailwind down the main straight, which can play all sorts of havoc. But it could also play into the hands of the windier driver - Pi-air Gustly and Lance Squall should be in their element.
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By: Jake Boxall-Legge
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