Hamilton calm winner ahead of Verstappen in Portimão

Lewis Hamilton offers beauty in the Algarve. Slightly manhandled at the start of the race, the seven-time world champion did not panic and calmly climbed back to the front of the race to achieve a 97th career success, with two fine overtakes on his direct competitors, Max Verstappen (Red Bull), then his teammate Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes). 

Starting from pole in Portimão, the Finn defended his position well when the lights went out, before the Safety Car was called onto the track following contact between the Alfa Romeo by Kimi Räikkönen and Antonio Giovinazzi. The 2007 world champion exploded his front wing after crashing into his Italian teammate's C41 at the start of the second lap. 

On the restart on lap 7, Verstappen surprised Hamilton with a cheeky maneuver on the outside. Well helped by the DRS, the Briton responded 4 loops later by insisting on the inside of the first corner. A long battle followed with his teammate for around ten laps during which the gap never fell below a second. 

On the 20th lap, Hamilton got close enough to Bottas to land the blow at the end of the long start/finish straight. The Mercedes driver rolls his garage neighbor outside without firing a shot. Packed, it’s weighed!

Hamilton then widens a gap which ends up exceeding 3 seconds, while Bottas for the moment contains Verstappen's attacks in his rearview. 

As is often the case, the waltz of pit stops will change the appearance of the Grand Prix. Red Bull draws first by stopping its leader on the 36th lap to replace its Mediums with Hards. Mercedes immediately covers the Dutchman's pit stop by asking Bottas to imitate Verstappen a lap later. 

The Finn certainly came out ahead of his Dutch rival but the latter was quick to take advantage of the Mercedes' slips on cold tires to attack the hairpin. Hamilton, who has a certain margin of safety, takes no risks and stops in turn to put on white tires and come out in front of Verstappen. 

He will then just have to pick up Sergio Pérez, who is going for the kind of long-term strategy that he usually loves, to regain the reins of the race and never let go. Verstappen and Bottas complete the podium. The two tried to steal the fastest lap in the race after putting on soft tires following a “free” stop at the end of the race.

The Dutchman thought he would have the last word on the checkerboard but his final attempt was erased for failure to respect the limits of the route, a frustrating scenario that he had already experienced in qualifying the day before. It was ultimately Bottas who pocketed the bonus point. 

Pérez fails at the foot of the podium. The Mexican is ahead Lando Norris, again very solid on its McLaren, and Charles Leclerc (Ferrari). 

Esteban Ocon signs a stubborn performance for Alpine by snatching 7th place with some nice overtakes, including one on Carlos Sainz, who will have to settle for 11th place due to a questionable tire choice.

The Spaniard from Ferrari suffers the law of his compatriot Fernando Alonso, moved up from 13th to 8th place thanks to an overcut, then Daniel Ricciardo, author of a nice comeback from 16th position, and finally to Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri) in the last round.  

In the championship, Hamilton increases his lead over Verstappen by 7 points to bring it to 8 points (69-61) after 3 races in 2021. 

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— Formula 1 (@F1) May 2, 2021