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F1 Portuguese GP Live Commentary and Updates - Race day

All of the action from the F1 Portuguese Grand Prix at Portimao

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

Summary

  • Hamilton wins the F1 Portuguese Grand Prix, having made a crucial pass on team-mate Bottas mid-race
  • Verstappen is second after jumping Bottas on the Merc driver's outlap
  • Bottas and Verstappen make late stops in bid to set fastest lap - and it's Verstappen who goes faster
  • But, he loses the time post-race for exceeding track limits and Bottas gets the bonus point!
  • Early safety car after Raikkonen goes off, having collided with team-mate Giovinazzi

Leaderboard
1. Hamilton, Mercedes
2. Verstappen, Red Bull
3. Bottas, Mercedes
4. Perez, Red Bull
5. Norris, McLaren
6. Leclerc, Ferrari
7. Ocon, Alpine 
8. Alonso, Alpine
9. Ricciardo, McLaren
10. Gasly, AlphaTauri

Status: Stopped
And that's it from us! We'll see you for next weekend's Spanish GP at Barcelona. Enjoy the rest of your day!
The Ferrari sparkling wine has been on the podium more times this year than the drivers.
I wonder how many times in the past three years we've had a Hamilton-Bottas-Verstappen podium? I'm sure someone out there has a tally...
Verstappen isn't amused to hear he's lost the fastest lap point there, and says "that's odd - they weren't checking track limits in Turn 14"...
 
Verstappen's had his hot lap deleted - track limits! So, the point belongs to Bottas...
Ocon and Alonso tie up another double-points finish for Alpine, as Ricciardo and Gasly complete the scorers.
Bottas completes the podium, with Perez completing the top four. Norris keeps fifth, with enough in reserve over Leclerc - who finishes sixth.
Bottas HAD set the fastest lap, but Verstappen snatches it from the Finn's grasp by just over a hundredth of a second!
And he does it - Lewis Hamilton wins the Portuguese Grand Prix!

Bad to worse for Sainz now as he drops out of the points after being passed by Gasly for P10 a lap later at the same place Ricciardo got by. After an encouraging Saturday, things have not gone to plan on Sunday for Sainz.

Hamilton, meanwhile, is only focused on tying up this win...
Verstappen now pits, aiming to give Red Bull more ammo in the fight for the fastest lap - which he'll hope to take on the final lap.

Here comes Ricciardo - easy as you like. Poor Sainz is struggling now, as he loses another place with the Australian driver moving up to P9 at the first turn. It has been a good recovery effort by the McLaren driver having started P16.

Bottas gets the call to come in, taking on the softs to reclaim control of the fastest lap.

Lapping cars out of the way, Schumacher can resume his tussle with Latifi. The Williams driver locks up at Turn 3 which rather gifts the overtake to Schumacher but he'll take it with glee to move up to P17.

Perez, meanwhile, gets told to take another shot at a quick lap to stop Bottas from entering the free pitstop window.
Bottas gets told he might get the chance of a free stop if he pushes. Perez is a little too close at the moment to make it happen right now.

Vettel is another fading fast in this race, as he is passed by Aston Martin team-mate Stroll for P13. Six laps to go.

Bottas complains of feeling "slow on the straights", as he's making no real inroads into Verstappen at the moment.

As Mazepin found out earlier, the blue flags are there for a reason, but they have just disrupted a great tussle between Latifi and Schumacher. The pair are forced to pause their fight to allow both Alonso and Sainz to lap them.

Sainz, on aging medium tyres that are really hurting his pace now, is powerless to stop Alonso barging by at the first corner with the help of DRS. Alonso is up to P8.

Norris is 11.5s behind Perez as it stands, with Leclerc a further 3.6s back. Not all safe for Norris, as he's gone longer on a softer compound.

Giovinazzi, who has had a quiet race since his early collision with his team-mate, charges ahead of Vettel with the aid of DRS on lap 56. That puts the Italian up to P12.

Bottas' pace is looking stronger now, presumably having had a fix. "Exhaust temperature sensor," says engineer Riccardo Musconi over the radio.
Perez does a 1m20.643s now, taking the fastest lap so far on his soft tyres.
Verstappen's now gapping Bottas, as the Finnish driver says he's losing power over the radio.

After a scruffy couple of laps earlier, Gasly is back in the groove and is hunting down Ricciardo for 10th place. He has just got within one second of the McLaren driver.

Perez is now given license to chase after the fastest lap. Hamilton's 1m20.933s is the benchmark.
Perez now stops, taking on the soft tyres as Verstappen started to edge closer to his team-mate. The Mexican rejoins in fourth.

Yep, it was coming. Mazepin has been given a five-second time penalty for holding up Perez earlier. Seems fair.

"Blue flags," Hamilton said as he mounted that overtake, clearly surprised that Perez was leading.

Good afternoon Fernando Alonso. The Alpine driver blasts by Ricciardo into the first corner on lap 51 to take ninth place.

Perez is now beginning to ail a little bit, and Hamilton clears the Red Bull to reclaim the lead of the Portuguese Grand Prix.

Gasly's pace has dropped badly over the last lap or two, as he loses positions to both Ricciardo and Alonso. The AlphaTauri driver's last lap was around three seconds slower than his rivals and he is now out of the points in P11.

Perez being blocked by Mazepin is now under investigation.

Mazepin has been placed under investigation for ignoring blue flags after that incident with Perez. The Russian driver could be in trouble here.

After the round of stops for those going longer in the first stint, Ricciardo is 2.2s ahead of Alonso running in the final points place. Both have got ahead of Vettel who has somewhat faded as the race has go on.

Mazepin's...recalcitrance, let's call it, cost Perez a couple of seconds on the previous lap. Hamilton's now 4.5s behind.

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