From Imola the F1 circus moved to the Atlantic coast for round 3, which took place at Portimao, Portugal. Elevation changes, tricky wind conditions and blind corners are distinctive of this circuit. Coming to the qualifying, Mercedes and McLaren were the only teams, which had successfully reached Q3 by both cars in the season's first two qualifying sessions. Round 3 broke this pattern, as Ricciardo was the biggest name casualty in Q1, missing out on the second session. The majority of the drivers came out on the medium rubber, as the second session was kicked off. Interestingly, the Ferrari drivers opted for a differing tyre strategy. Charles made his second attempt on the yellow-marked medium compound, whilst Carlos headed out on the soft tyres. Mercedes duo of Hamilton and Bottas topped the time sheets at the end of the session. The Aston Martin pilot Sebastian Vettel was responsible for the most positive performance of the qualifying, as after a 15-race streak of been knocked out of Q3, the former Ferrari star now made it among the top ten.
The track limits were monitored carefully in Turns 4 and 14. Verstappen in his Red Bull clocked a stunning lap time on his first run in Q3, but the time was deleted due to exceeding the track limits at Turn 4. It proved a costly mistake for the Dutchman, as the time would have entitled him to pole position in the end. Bottas, Hamilton and Perez were the fastest men on track after the first runs. A bit surprisingly, both Mercedes drivers opted for medium Pirellis on their last run, as both of them had struggled with the balance of the car on the softs. However, the second runs brought no improvement in terms of their lap times. Verstappen managed to put together a decent lap time, but it only entitled him to P3 on the grid. Perez completed the second row for Red Bull. Sainz showed excellent performance, being able to out-qualify his teammate Charles. Sainz in P5 was followed by Ocon in Alpine and Norris in his McLaren. Charles had to settle for P8, followed by AlphaTauri's Gasly and ex teammate Vettel.
The top four started to the race on the more durable rubber, whilst the contenders Sainz, Norris and Ocon were on the softs. Bottas took an impressive start, keeping teammate Hamilton firmly behind. Sainz, who started to the race from P5, benefitted from his tyre choice. He passed Red Bull's Perez, making his way up to 4th. Meanwhile, there was drama at the back of the pack. Räikkönen, who had started to the race from modest P15, misjudged his overtaking chances badly when making a move on his teammate. Kimi ended up hitting his teammate's left side of the car, which destroyed the Iceman's front wing. The broken front wing got stuck under the front-left tyre of Kimi's Alfa Romeo, and the Finn's race ended on the gravel. This incident brought out the safety car.
The re-start on lap 6 was colorful indeed. Bottas made a perfect job defending his lead, but aggressive Verstappen attacked Hamilton, jumping second. McLaren's Norris, too had an outstanding re-start, and the young Briton managed to climb up to P3, whilst Sainz dropped down to P6. The battle between the top three was absolutely hair-raising. All three drivers were within 1.5 seconds only. Hamilton's revenge took place on lap 11; the reigning world champion attacked Verstappen and claimed back his second place. After that Hamilton was utterly unstoppable. Bottas drove flawlessly in the lead, but Hamilton saw his chance on lap 20 and attacked the Finn. There was no harsh blocking from Valtteri, and Hamilton snatched the lead.
Red Bull decided to go for the undercut and called Verstappen in on lap 36. The Dutchman opted for a fresh set of hard Pirellis, which were to last till the end. Mercedes had to react, and Bottas was called in on the sequential lap. The Finn did rejoin the track in front of Verstappen, but due to cold tyres the Finn's W12 was sliding a bit. Verstappen didn't hesitate but made a cold-hearted move and passed the Finn. Hamilton, too pitted for a fresh set of white-walled hard Pirellis. Perez, who hadn't made his mandatory pit stop yet, was leading the race.
On lap 51 Hamilton had hunted down Perez, whose medium tyres were dying after a shockiny long first stint. It was an easy task for the Briton to claim the lead. Perez pitted on the following lap, opting for the soft compound and rejoining the track in P4. With some ten laps to go, Bottas seemed to be closing the gap to Verstappen, but all of a sudden the gap between these two had increased into five seconds. Valtteri was hit with a sensor issue in his W12, which made him lose power.
Due to stabilised gaps between the top three, there was no fighting for positions at the end. The biggest excitement was down to the battle for the fastest lap time. Both Bottas and Verstappen pitted at the end for a fresh set of soft tyres, as their positions weren't under a threat of any kind. On the penultimate lap, Bottas made the screens purple, setting the fastest lap time. Verstappen gave his answer on the final lap, depriving Valtteri of the fastest lap time. However, Max had again exceeded the track limits on his final lap, which led to his lap time being deleted. So Bottas earned the extra point for the fastest lap time.
Hamilton cruised to the chequered flag as the race winner for the 97th time in his career. This was also the second victory in the row for the Briton at Portimao. Verstappen finished as the runner-up, and pole-setter Bottas had to settle for P3, which must have been a huge disappointment for the Finn after the glorious qualifying. Perez made the day excellent for Red Bull by finishing 4th. Norris finished 5th for McLaren and Charles 6th for the Scuderia. In spite of a very promising start to the race, Sainz was left out of points in the end.
This week it's time for a double-header, as the F1 circus moves to Barcelona, Spain. Hamilton has an 8-point lead to Verstappen in the drivers' championship standings, and world champion Mercedes have an 18-point edge over their closest rival Red Bull. Charles is now 5th and Carlos 8th in the drivers' standings and Ferrari 4th in the constructors' one.
Bring on the Spanish GP! Forza Ferrari!
With passion for racing red,
Iina Huhmarniemi
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