Lewis Hamilton extended his Formula 1 championship points lead in Portugal, as he eased to his second win of the 2021 season.
The seven-time champion started second behind Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas, but lost out to Max Verstappen following a Safety Car restart, caused by the Alfa Romeo of Kimi Raikkonen.
Pole sitter Bottas held the restart for as long as he could, finally bolting just yards from the start/finish line, which caught Hamilton off guard. Verstappen was able to tuck in behind the Briton to draw alongside at Turn 1 and complete the move on the exit of the corner.
It only took until Lap 11 for Hamilton to retake the position with the aid of DRS down the start straight. He would then set his sights on his team-mate, who was just a handful of seconds down the road.
Bottas would go on to control the pace, keeping Hamilton behind. But on Lap 21 Hamilton would sweep around the outside of Turn 1 to snatch the lead.
Verstappen then completed a successful undercut to pass Bottas during the pit stop phase, but didn’t have the pace to challenge Hamilton and settled for P2, even stopping late on to try and claim the extra point for fastest lap, only for his time to be deleted, handing the point to Bottas, who also stopped late on.
Norris best of the rest again
McLaren’s Lando Norris was once again “best of the rest” as he took fifth behind Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who played the long game, stopping on Lap 52 of 66 to enjoy several laps in the lead.
Perez initially lost out at the start to a fast starting Carlos Sainz on the soft tyre, whilst Norris dropped behind Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.
But following the Safety Car as a result of Raikkonen colliding with his team-mate, Antonio Giovinazzi, on the opening lap, Norris was able to pass both Sainz and Perez to move into fourth.
However the Red Bull proved too quick and Norris would eventually drop back to fifth, finishing just under four seconds ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Ocon meanwhile was seventh ahead of team-mate Fernando Alonso. Daniel Ricciardo was ninth, having started 16th, whilst AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly took the final points position in tenth.
Sainz narrowly missed out in 11th, with his medium tyres fading away following an early stop.
Schumacher pips Latifi for P17
Sebastian Vettel passed team-mate Lance Stroll on the final lap to clinch 13th, which will be a disappointing result given his top-ten start on the grid.
Yuki Tsunoda was 15th, ahead of George Russell and Mick Schumacher, who overtook Nicholas Latifi following a lock-up from the Canadian.
Nikita Mazepin was last, earning a five-second time penalty for blocking Perez as the Mexican, who led at the time, attempted to lap the Russian driver.
[motorsport_result id=’62408′]
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