The Portuguese Grand Prix has once again caused controversy. What happened and how did the race turn out?

The safety car on the track, Lewis Hamilton’s poor restart and also the controversy that the race directorate caused after the end of the race. What happened in Portimão and how did this Grand Prix turn out?

The Portuguese Grand Prix at Portimao, officially known as the F1 Heineken Gran Prémio De Portugal, was on the agenda today. Valtteri Bottas made a great start to this Grand Prix, retaining his first place. However, just after the first lap, Kimi Räikkönen took a front wing on the car of his teammate Antonio Giovinazzi.

The safety car then took to the track. He pulled back into the pits at the end of the sixth circuit. The restart was not successful for seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, but Max Verstappen did a fantastic job on the restart. He stayed close behind Hamilton, took advantage of the slipstream and moved into second place in the race.

The race also got off to a good start for Lando Norris in the McLaren, who moved up to fourth ahead of Sergio Pérez, Carlos Sainz and Esteban Ocon. Daniel Ricciardo in the McLaren also moved up from his original 16th position to number 11. Carlos Sainz again managed to get ahead of his stablemate Charles Leclerc, while Esteban Ocon in his Alpino dropped behind the two Ferraris.

The young Dutchman in the service of Red Bull was even close to regaining the top position during the following laps, as he pressured Bottas significantly. A mistake and a slip of the tyres at the end of the eleventh circuit caused him to lose his position. Hamilton then moved into second place.

At this point, Mercedes had a clear strategic advantage. Nine laps later, Hamilton even took the lead of the race. On lap 20, he passed Bottas quite easily on the home straight, thanks to the DRS system. On lap 23, the pit window opened up.

It was Hamilton, however, who was clearly setting the pace at the front of the race, setting one fastest lap after another. On lap 36, Verstappen pitted and changed to the hardest compound. Bottas put on the same specification a lap later and Hamilton a lap after that. But Red Bull left the fourth driver in the standings, Perez, on the track. And that was until lap fifty-two!

The race order was relatively settled after the halfway point. After lap 40, Pérez was first, with Hamilton second ahead of Verstappen and Bottas. Fifth place continued to be guarded by Norris ahead of the two Ferraris, Ocon, Gasly, with Ricciardo in the McLaren rounding out the top ten.

Alpine, however, continued to prove that they were at least a competitive team in this Grand Prix. Ocon got to seventh place by overtaking Sainz. On lap 46, Nikita Mazepin completely ignored the blue flags as Pérez in the Red Bull passed him a lap later. Mazepin clearly blocked him in the corner, whereupon he drew a 5-second penalty from race HQ.

At that point, Mazepin was at the very tail of the field. He was a full 59 seconds behind his teammate Mick Schumacher in second to last place!

In the following laps, it was Fernando Alonso and Ricciardo who were making their way to the front. Down the order, Sainz was falling in his Ferrari. With ten laps to go, Bottas had a problem with his sensor, but it wasn’t just his sensor that gave him a big scare. In fact, the Finnish driver first thought he was starting to lose power, which would have been a big problem as the race neared its end.

For the final lap, Hamilton’s teammate went for a fresh set of tyres, looking to take the fastest lap of the race from Sergio Pérez’s Red Bull for an extra championship point for the fastest lap of the race. Which, for a brief moment, he did. Moments later, however, Verstappen stole the fastest lap of the race for himself.

The Portuguese Grand Prix was won by Hamilton. Verstappen finished second, just ahead of the Finnish driver Bottas. Pérez was fourth, Norris fifth, Leclerc sixth. Seventh and eighth place go to Ocon and Alonso on the Alpina, with two points for ninth place going to Ricciardo. Sainz hasn’t exactly had a successful race in the final.

In fact, he couldn’t hold on to even one point for tenth place. He was robbed of that on the penultimate lap by the Frenchman Gasly in his Alpha Tauri. Giovinazzi crossed the line twelfth in his Alfa Romeo ahead of both Aston Martin cars. Fifteenth place went to Yuki Tsunoda ahead of George Russell’s Williams. Seventeenth went to Schumacher, who managed to overtake Latifi in the Williams at the end. Mazepin finished last, two laps down.

The end of the race, however, caused great controversy which will almost certainly be addressed and dissected in the days to come. Verstappen had his fastest lap of the race taken away for exceeding the track limits. However, the rules state different facts when it comes to track limits in practice, qualifying or the race.

In fact, the Formula One rules state that if a driver exceeds the track limits in a race, he is cautioned several times, which can result in a black and white flag and subsequent time penalty. Verstappen, however, has not committed any sins related to exceeding track limits in the race so far, according to information. The race directorate’s decision can thus be qualified as very borderline in terms of interpretation of the rules.

On the other hand, Michael Masi announced on Saturday that the track limits will be checked also at the incriminated turn 14, where Verstappen committed the track limit infringement. However, according to him, this particular corner was not given any attention by the race directorate during the weekend.

This Grand Prix at the Algarve circuit will have an interesting twist in the coming days.

Source: F1 Live