Lewis Hamilton fended off competition to win the Portuguese Grand Prix, becoming Formula 1’s most successful driver as he took his 92nd career win, surpassing Michael Schumacher’s long-standing record.
Hamilton cruised to the finish in the second half of the race, however during the opening stages, he fell back to third place despite starting on pole position.
Mercedes would eventually prevail as the laps settled, streaking away from the competition, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen failing to mount a challenge on his way to third.
Bottas, who took the lead of the race on the opening lap, held on out in front until lap 20, when Hamilton closed the gap enough to get DRS and pass his team-mate on the start/finish straight.
After passing Bottas, Hamilton extended the gap until pitting on lap 41, swapping his Medium tyres for Hards for the remaining 25 laps. Bottas followed in one lap later, but couldn’t cut into Hamilton’s lead, leaving the six-time World Champion to take his eighth win of the year.
Opening lap chaos
As the race got underway, rain began to fall through the opening sector, with those starting on the Medium tyres struggling compared to the drivers on the Softs.
Bottas managed to get past Hamilton, while behind, Perez and Verstappen made contact at Turn 4, leaving the Racing Point driver facing the wrong direction and at the back of the grid.
Carlos Sainz, on the Soft tyres, managed to overtake both Verstappen and Hamilton before making his way through on Bottas to take the race lead.
Kimi Raikkonen was also a big mover in the opening stages, progressing 10 positions in the first two laps and move into sixth place – however he would drop down the order in the following laps.
As those on the Medium tyres got up to speed, Bottas and Hamilton moved back ahead and into the leading positions to pull away from the field.
Leclerc heads the midfield battle
Charles Leclerc, who started the race in fourth, produced an error-free drive to take home 12 points, pulling away from his midfield rivals.
Perez recovered to fifth place following his opening lap collision with Verstappen, but came under pressure from Pierre Gasly in teh final handful of laps.
Gasly, who took victory at Monza earlier this year, managed to dispose of Perez to take fifth, with Sainz following him through on the final lap of the race to take sixth.
Perez was seventh, leading Ocon who went extremely deep into the race on Medium tyres, making his one and only stop of the race on lap 54. The Frenchman ousted team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, while Sebastian Vettel secured the final point on offer.
Lance Stroll was the only retiree from the race, pulling into the garage late on. The Canadian was involved in a collision with McLaren’s Lando Norris midway through, with both cars sustaining damage.
2020 Portuguese Grand Prix Result
| # | Driver | Team | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | L. Hamilton | Mercedes | |
| 2 | V. Bottas | Mercedes | +25.592 |
| 3 | M. Verstappen | Red Bull | +34.508 |
| 4 | C. Leclerc | Ferrari | +65.312 |
| 5 | P. Gasly | AlphaTauri | +1 Lap |
| 6 | C. Sainz | McLaren | +1 Lap |
| 7 | S. Perez | Racing Point | +1 Lap |
| 8 | E. Ocon | Renault | +1 Lap |
| 9 | D. Ricciardo | Renault | +1 Lap |
| 10 | S. Vettel | Ferrari | +1 Lap |
| 11 | K. Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | +1 Lap |
| 12 | C. Albon | Red Bull | +1 Lap |
| 13 | L. Norris | McLaren | +1 Lap |
| 14 | G. Russell | Williams | +1 Lap |
| 15 | A. Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | +1 Lap |
| 16 | R. Grosjean | Haas | +1 Lap |
| 17 | K. Magnussen | Haas | +1 Lap |
| 18 | N. Latifi | Williams | +2 Laps |
| 19 | D. Kvyat | AlphaTauri | +2 Laps |
| 20 | L. Stroll | Racing Point | DNF |
