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Report: Lewis Hamilton takes victory in Portimao ahead of Max Verstappen
Lewis Hamilton extends his championship lead after securing victory ahead of Max Vertappen and Valtteri Bottas in Portimao. The Brit dominated the race and eased to victory as Verstappen and Bottas both couldn't keep up with the reigning champion.
It was a fairly uneventful start with Bottas getting away well to keep the lead ahead of Hamilton and Verstappen. Sergio Perez bogged down slightly and gave a place away before the safety car was brought out after Kimi Raikkonen hit his teammate, knocking off his front wing and ending his race.
After a few laps behind the safety car, the race resumed on lap seven and it was the Red Bull of Verstappen who had the best restart, overtaking Hamilton after the Brit was caught napping.
The McLaren of Lando Norris also had a strong restart, overtaking the Red Bull of Perez for fourth position, and went on to have a good race, finishing fifth and taking home valuable points once again.
It wasn’t long before Hamilton was back into second with a brave move on Verstappen on lap 11 and on lap 20, Hamilton took the lead after overtaking his teammate and from there it didn’t look like he was going to give the victory away.
Verstappen was the first of the front runners to pit and it was on lap 36 that the Red Bull came in for the hard compound tyre with Bottas coming in the following lap. The Finn stayed ahead but had the Dutchman hot on his heels and it seemed his tyres were cold and Verstappen was able to blast past the Mercedes for second place.
It was then Hamilton’s turn to pit and the reigning champion had a clean stop to come out ahead of Verstappen.
Perez stayed out on the medium tyre that he started the race on and was leading for a few laps before pitting late in the race for the soft tyre and tried to take the fastest lap of the race.
However, Bottas and Verstappen both pitted for fresh tyres to try and get the fastest lap and it was the Finn who put in the fastest lap as Verstappen's lap time was removed for track limits.
Top 10
1. Lewis Hamilton
2. Max Vertappen
3. Valtteri Bottas
4. Sergio Perez
5. Lando Norris
7. Esteban Ocon
8. Fernando Alonso
10. Pierre Gasly
