Record-breaker Lewis Hamilton wins the 2020 F1 Portuguese Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton won his 92nd race and subsequently broke Michael Schumacher’s record as the Brit won the 2020 F1 Portuguese Grand Prix.

Valtteri Bottas finished second and Max Verstappen claimed third.

Starting Grid

Another front-row lockout for Mercedes saw Lewis Hamilton on pole and Valtteri Bottas in second. On the second-row of the grid saw Max Verstappen in P3 and Charles Leclerc qualified a fantastic fourth for Ferrari.

Sergio Perez lined up in fifth and Alex Albon joined the Mexican on the third-row in sixth. Carlos Sainz out qualified Lando Norris with the McLaren’s lining up in seventh and eighth. Pierre Gasly qualified ninth for AlphaTauri and Daniel Ricciardo started in tenth.

Esteban Ocon was P11, Lance Stroll in P12, Daniil Kvyat in P13, George Russell in P14 and Sebastian Vettel in P15. The Alfa Romeo pairing of Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi qualified P16 and P17 ahead of the Haas pair of Romain Grosjean, Kevin Magnussen in P18 and P19 as Nicholas Latifi qualified slowest in P20.

And It’s Lights Out And Away We Go!

Hamilton started ahead of Bottas as Verstappen immediately overtook the second Mercedes. Verstappen then went off the track and knocked into Perez.

Bottas overtook Hamilton and positioned himself into first as the Championship leader dropped further back after Sainz gazumped the Brit.

Sainz went into the lead of the race by Turn Five of the Portimao circuit as the Spaniard, who finished second in Monza, looked to get the first win for himself in his career.

The rain was on the radars and the droplets were on the track out of Turn One and Turn Two.

Verstappen regained a position into Turn One on lap five as the Dutchman dived down the inside of Norris and into fourth place.

Bottas regained the lead of the race into Turn One on lap six as the medium tyres were getting into their own and proving to be a good choice.

DRS Assistance helped Hamilton to move past Sainz and Mercedes regained their starting positions of a one-two.

Three laps in a row, Sainz was overtaken by a car this time it was Verstappen into Turn One as he reclaimed third position.

Leclerc moved into fifth place as Ricciardo moved into seventh, the two drivers dispatching Norris and Raikkonen respectively, with DRS active down the main straight.

The main straight’s DRS came into play again as Gasly past Ricciardo and Stroll moved ahead of Raikkonen.

Bottas was two seconds ahead of Hamilton by the end of lap 14 as Verstappen was seven seconds behind the Mercedes pair.

Stroll and Norris tangled together down at Turn One which saw the Racing Point driver come off second best as both the drivers suffered wing damage.

Hamilton got past his teammate and into first as the Championship leader used all the assistance from DRS into Turn One.

Sainz reported on the radio “It’s starting to rain again” and this posed the question of what the drivers would do during the rest of the race.

Perez looked to light up his medium tyres as the Mexican pitted on lap one after his collision with Verstappen. The Racing Point driver slotted into tenth place after passing Giovinazzi.

Verstappen pitted for a new set of tyres and after his pit-stop dropped back into sixth place behind Sainz and ahead of Ocon.

At the half-way point of the race, Hamilton led the race with Bottas seven seconds behind his Mercedes teammate, Leclerc was in third, Verstappen in fourth, Ocon in fifth, Perez in sixth, Russell in seventh, Ricciardo in eighth, Gasly in ninth and Raikkonen in tenth.

The battle for the last points place between Raikkonen and Sainz saw the two squabble and the old gun come out on top. A lap later, Sainz made his way down the inside of Raikkonen.

Perez and Ocon battled just like Raikkonen and Sainz and the Racing Point came out on top in that specific battle.

The race leader, Lewis Hamilton, pitted in for his mandatory stop and saw him concede his lead and drop 17 seconds behind Bottas. A lap later, Bottas pitted onto the hard tyres and the Finn dropped behind Hamilton once more.

Hamilton dominated the race and was 15 seconds ahead of Bottas and nearly half a minute ahead of Verstappen. Stroll retired from the race on lap 54 after major car damage on his car.

Ten laps remained, Hamilton, led the race ahead of Bottas and Verstappen in third. Leclerc in fourth, Perez in fifth, Gasly in sixth, Sainz, in seventh, Ocon in eighth, Ricciardo and Vettel in tenth.

Perez and Gasly scrapped for fifth place as Perez didn’t allow the Frenchman get passed on lap 64, but got the job done on lap 65. Perez got passed by Sainz as the Racing Point dropped down to seventh during two laps.