Hamilton and Bottas take 1st and 3rd in F1 Portuguese Grand Prix

The Mercedes-AMG F1 team had a good run in the Portuguese Grand Prix at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve last weekend.

In qualifying, Valterri Bottas (below) and Lewis Hamilton topped the time sheet with a time of 1:18.348 for the Finnish driver, while the Brit was close behind with 1:18.355.

In the race, Hamilton bagged his 97th career win. Bottas finished third after losing second place to Red Bull-Honda's Max Verstappen.

At the start of the race, Bottas led Hamilton and Verstappen. Behind them, Verstappen's teammate Sergio Pérez, who was in fourth, was passed by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon also lost a place, dropping to seventh as McLaren’s Lando Norris snagged P6.

However, an accident not long after brought out the safety car. Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen collided with teammate Antonio Giovinazzi on the pit straight at the start of the second lap, and lost his front wing.

Räikkönen pulled over in a run-off area, but with debris scattered across the main straight, the safety car was deployed.

When racing resumed on Lap 8, Bottas held onto his lead but Hamilton was passed by Verstappen the outside into Turn 1. Pérez also profited on the restart as he got ahead of Sainz.

However, later in the lap the Mexican driver was overtaken into the hairpin by Norris. Pérez quickly fought back, though, and on the next lap muscled past the McLaren driver into Turn 1.

At the front, Verstappen was under pressure and after a moment of oversteer in Turn 14, Hamilton closed in on the main straight and passed the Red Bull in Turn 1 to take back second place.

The Mercedes drivers then began to eke out a gap, and by Lap 18 Hamilton was 1.5 seconds clear of Verstappen, with Pérez eight seconds further back.

Norris placed fifth ahead of Sainz, with the Spaniard’s Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc in P7. Ocon had slipped to eighth ahead of AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo.

The lead changed on Lap 20 when Hamilton got a good exit out of the final corner, and pounced at the end of the pit straight to overtake Bottas around the outside of Turn 1.

P1 to P4 of the race results were cornered by Mercedes and Red Bull-Honda, with Hamilton in P1 and Bottas in P3. Verstappen and Pérez finished in P2 and P4, respectively.

With his Portuguese Grand Prix win, Hamilton collected 25 points, Verstappen 18, Bottas 16, and Pérez 12.

McLaren's Norris finished fifth and Ferrari's Leclerc in sixth. Meanwhile, Alpine teammates Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso placed seventh and eighth. Norris' teammate Ricciardo was ninth, and AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly 10th.

Photos from Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA)

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