A big place: why Bottas gave Hamilton a victory in Formula 1 in Portugal

Mercedes and Red Bull predictably took two first places in the third Grand Prix of the Formula 1 season. This time, Lewis Hamilton changed places with Max Verstappen – thanks to team tactics, the Briton finished first and increased the lead over the competitor. Nikita Mazepin managed to finish the race, but again became the last with a huge gap. The Russian also angered his rivals with aerobatics, while his Haas partner Mick Schumacher even managed to overtake one rider.

Wind was blowing from sea

Portugal’s weather and track prompts teams to make adjustments to the Grand Prix plan… Instead of the promised rain, a strong gusty wind was blowing throughout the race weekend in Portimão, which is 15 km from the Mediterranean Sea. Together with the slippery new asphalt, this forcedly made piloting more careful: wind increases resistance, loses speed and makes balance control more difficult, and a fresh coating impairs the car’s grip.

To such conditions Mercedes was the best fit. Despite the expected rivalry between Hamilton and Verstappen, in qualifying he reminded of himself Valtteri Bottas… Finnish racer arrived 0.007 seconds faster than his British colleague, thereby robbing him of the 100th anniversary victory in the Formula 1 qualifiers. Verstappen ended up only third, losing a respectable 0.398 seconds.

At the same time, the Dutchman was faster than Bottas, but lost the advantage – in the first attempt, his time was removed, since he went 5 cm off the track due to a gust of wind. In the second, Verstappen was prevented by traffic, which in turn angered the Red Bull bosses, who considered the actions of the pilots of the “friendly” Mercedes team McLaren to be a conspiracy. There, the engineers first called on Lando Norris not to yield to Verstappen, and later Sebastian Vettel took the trajectory on the path of the Dutchman.

Mazepin also had some adventures… He again finished qualifying last… But this time Haas driver did not share the track with similar driver Nicholas Latifi – the son of a billionaire who invested up to $ 50 million in Williams. The Canadian by mistake blocked Mazepin’s road on a fast lap, and then was immediately blocked in response. The Russian said that he also did it by accident, but no one believed him.

Sacrifice Team

The race itself began with an accident in which Kimi Raikkonen got into already on the second lap. In his Alfa Romeo, he miscalculated the dimensions and touched his partner Antonio Giovinazzi. As a result, the front wing came off, hitting the Finn under the car, forcing him to retire. After that, a safety car drove onto the track so that the race track employees could safely clear the track of debris.

If at the start the alignment in the group of leaders did not change, then immediately after the resumption of the race, Verstappen boldly attacked Hamilton and became the second. It seemed that the Dutchman would deal with Bottas at such a pace in the near future, but after four laps the Briton returned. He took advantage of the acceleration and bypassed a lingering competitor on a straight line, and then did not allow him to counterattack.

For a while, Bottas continued to lead, but then the team tactics began to work at Mercedes. On lap 20, Hamilton passed his team-mate around the corner without much resistance. Verstappen by this time had already begun to lag behind, and Bottas sluggishly held back the challenger while the first number of the team went into the lead. This situation continued until the pit stops, to which all three went one after another with a difference in a circle – first Verstappen, then Bottas and finally Hamilton.

The sacrificed Finnish pilot managed to return to the race neatly in front of the Red Bull driver, but he had already managed to warm up the tires and immediately ahead of Bottas. At the same time, Hamilton, as expected, slipped onto the track in front of both pursuers. Leadership at this moment was taken by the second driver of Red Bull Sergio Perez, who was in fourth with a large lag. He led the peloton without a pit stop until lap 50 when he was overtaken by Hamilton on fresh tires.

It is unlikely that Red Bull believed that Perez would be able to delay the Briton until Verstappen rolled, but in the end he left for the pits immediately after Mercedes returned to the head of the race, when everything became transparent with the layouts. The victory allowed Hamilton to slightly increase the gap in the championship – the score in the personal series with Verstappen was 2: 1.

“It was a very tough race,” Hamilton admitted at a press conference. – I didn’t have such a good start as Valtteri [Боттаса]and then I lost on restart [Ферстаппену] – it’s not very cool. Of course, I was not particularly pleased. I really had to do my best. I don’t remember exactly, but I think Max made a mistake at the perfect moment for me, and I realized that I could get as close to him as possible. Then I overtook Valtteri – I had to act quickly, because the tires were leaving, and I managed to get him in the first corner. Everything was on edge, but the race was great.

Mazepin reached the finish line for the second time in a row, but looked hopeless, while his team rival Schumacher eventually took 17th place from Latifi. In addition, the Russian received another five seconds of a penalty for not wanting to miss Perez’s lap. This aroused the anger of the Mexican, who cursed Mazepin on the radio. After the race, Nikita pleaded guilty and apologized. However, such incidents in each race against the background of faded aerobatics are already becoming the hallmark of the Russian pilot.