HAMMER TIME — Lewis Hamilton becomes winningest Formula 1 driver with dominant 92nd victory at Portuguese GP; Bottas a distant P2, Verstappen P3

Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton rewrote the Formula 1 record books on Sunday by breaking a tie with the great Michael Schumahcer and becoming the all-time leader in victories with 92 after a dominant win in the Portuguese Grand Prix at Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimao, Portugal. Racing away from pole, the English six-time World Champion and current points leader actually ceded his lead during a chaotic Lap 1 multi-car shuffle that saw McLaren’s Carlos Sainz surge forward from P7 on the grid to lead the race. Appearing to struggle for grip on cool Medium Pierrelli tires, his teammate and Mercedes Number 2, Valtteri Bottas, also passed Hamilton, relegating him to P3 in the order. But Sainz’s lead would prove to be short-lived. The Spaniard who started on the Soft tires, saw rapid performance degradation while the Medium-shod Mercs rapidly came into their own. Bottas passed Sainz on Lap 6 and Hamilton followed suit the following lap, setting up the usual internecine battle between the Silver Arrows. By Lap 19 Hamilton had closed the gap to Bottas and was harassing the Finn from directly behind his gearbox. On Lap 20, Hamilton made a decisive pass for a lead that he would never relinquish for the rest of the race.

Pics courtesy GrandPirx247.com

Clearly excelling on a long tire stint compared to his rivals, Hamilton ran all the way to Lap 41 on his first set of Mediums and then came in for a new set of Hards to finish off the 66-lap contest, having built enough of a gap over Bottas to still come out ahead, especially since Bottas was called in directly after him. While Bottas playfully pleaded to go to an alternate strategy and take a gamble on the least-favored Soft tires, that option was nixed by the Mercedes brain trust and Bottas had to hold station on matching Hards behind his superlative teammate for the remainder of the race. With the bit between his teeth and a historic prize to be grasped, Hamilton carved through backmarkers, lapping all but the top four finishers to cruise home to his record-setting win number 92. In the end, Lewis crossed the line over 25.5 seconds ahead of his P2 teammate. With a maximum points haul of 26 after also setting the fastest lap, Hamilton now leads Bottas, who races as number 77, by 77 points in the Championship with only four rounds remaining in the bizarre but entertaining 2020 season. So it’s nearly a lock that Hamilton will also tie Schumacher’s once unfathomable title record of seven Drivers’ Championships by the end and almost guaranteed that Hamilton returns in 2021 to break that mark with this era’s most dominant car before the new, cost saving and more spec-oriented formula kicks in 2022.

But for now, it is time to savor this individual accomplishment in what is already Hall of Fame career with first McLaren and now Mercedes and to pay respect to Lewis Hamilton for breaking a record that was previously thought to be untouchable. Simply put, Ham the Man is in the conversation for greatest all-time F1 pilot regardless of the era and no matter how easy he makes it look the 35-year-old Englishman is also making history every time he hits the track. With several more years of racing at the top level likely to come, Hamilton should continue to rewrite the record book in a way that will truly never be matched again.

Despite the seeming inevitability of Hamilton’s victory, the first F1 race on the very green and undulating Portimao circuit was entertaining and unpredictable from the moment the lights went out. Aside form Hamilton getting shuffled back tp P3 at the start and Sainz’s unlikely if short lived lead, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen also got into a contretemps with Racing Point’s Sergio Perez in the opening corners that saw the Dutchman rejoin the racing line abruptly and punt the Mexican off the track. Verstappen dropped back to P5 while Perez found himself dead last after surviving the contact but pitting for repairs. While Verstappen did well to regain his positions and finish the way he qualified in P3, Perez was truly heroic in a recovery drive that saw him scramble to make back positions all race long. In the end, Perez climbed all the way up to a P7 finish and earned Driver of the Day honors. Not bad for a guy without a seat in F1 for next year. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc drove a solid race for the Scuderia, avoiding any of the surrounding drama by maintaining his qualifying position and converting it into a solid P4 finish. Leclerc’s star-crossed teammate Sebastian Vettel also performed well in race trim, overcoming his poor P15 qualifying effort to take the last point in P10. In a rather dismal season for Ferrari the dual-points finish gave the legendary team from Maranello a glimmer of hope that their engine and chassis might be improving, albeit perhaps a bit too late to pull themselves out of their woeful sixth position in the Constructors’ standings.

AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly was once again outstanding, showing excellent pace and surgical overtaking skills to elevate himself from P9 on the grid and come home P5 to earn “best of the rest” this week. McLaren’s Sainz could not maintain his early electric pace on a slightly damp surface on Soft tires, finding his level as the track dried and rubbered in but still fishing an admirable P6, a decent result for the team with their other driver, Lando Norris, finishing out of the points. Behind Perez’s miracle P7, Esteban Ocon got the better of his Renault teammate Daniel Riccard; the duo finished P8 and P9 respectively.

Top 10 finishers of the Portuguese Grand Prix:

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in but a week’s time — the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix from Imola, our third trip to Italy this year. But it’s another unfamiliar circuit for the F1 paddock, having hosted its last GP back in 2006. That said, look for Hamilton to get up to speed quickly as he drives away from legend of Schumi and into truly undiscovered country. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!