00:00And it's lights out and away we go. Bottas and Hamilton both getting away well.
00:05Perez not the best start and he's already got the Ferrari alongside him and ahead as
00:09Bottas goes into Turn 1 in the lead from Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.
00:13Then comes Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez. Behind them Lando Norris is ahead of Esteban Ocon.
00:18Also on the soft tyre for the McLaren runner and they're just finding their way around Turn 3.
00:23No contact so far. Bottas getting away well.
00:26Perez definitely struggling for grip there with the medium compound tire they're coming at him.
00:32Under-breaking and that's a foul at the inside of Lando Norris.
00:36There's a big lock up there I think it might have been his teammate Fernando Alonso.
00:40Look at that that's a decent lead from Valtteri Bottas isn't it?
00:43And Max Verstappen I think will be quite pleased to have at least just be hanging on.
00:48But Lando Norris charging around the outside of Turn 11 and the left-hander of 12 gives him the high
00:54ground.
00:55Oh go Lando. What a move from Lando Norris.
00:59Daniel Ricciardo is up in the 14th ahead of Fernando Alonso and someone's made contact
01:04and there is Kimi Raikkonen who has lost half of his front wing going down the main straight.
01:09I wonder if we're going to need some kind of safety car for that especially if he
01:13buries it in the gravel. He has taken the car to a service road. Full safety car.
01:19And up against his teammates almost like he got such a slipstream. There's no DRS involved.
01:24So he got such a slipstream from his teammate and it looks like it caught him out.
01:29And he's got the jump then on Hamilton and Verstappen behind him. Through the heat haze come 19
01:34Formula One cars. Hamilton trying to pull out of the slipstream that Max Verstappen's getting behind him.
01:38Verstappen goes into Turn 1 ahead of Hamilton. Got a little bit squirrelly on the exit of Turn 1.
01:45But that was a great move by Max Verstappen. He's up into second place. Sergio Perez is now behind
01:50Lewis Hamilton ahead of Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz and Esteban Ocon.
01:54Verstappen was fine for track limits but Hamilton was even further off the track anyway.
01:58So don't imagine that's going to be a problem. There goes Lando Norris down the inside. There's a lockup
02:03from Carlos Sainz. That might give Charles Leclerc a chance to get past his teammate in a moment.
02:08But Lando Norris is up into fourth place ahead of Sergio Perez. Sainz 6th.
02:12Leclerc 7th ahead of Esteban Ocon who has not had the best start. He lost one place because now
02:18he's back ahead of Leclerc according to that timing screen. And there down inside.
02:23He's going for it again as the door is firmly slammed shut by Charles Leclerc.
02:30Oh, getting all out of shape there. Max Verstappen coming out of Turn 14.
02:35That's going to give Lewis Hamilton a little bit of impetus on one because Hamilton is within striking
02:39distance of the Red Bull down the straight. Bottas continues to lead them. We're on lap 11 of 66.
02:45Here comes Hamilton on Max Verstappen. Hamilton retakes that second place ahead of the Red Bull.
02:51That move started all the way back at Turn 14 as Verstappen tries to fight it into Turn 4.
02:57Hamilton just stays ahead.
03:02What are we going to see now?
03:03It's Perez on Norris.
03:05Nice move.
03:08Vettel has been putting in as good a lap times as he possibly can, but can he keep Ricciardo at
03:12bay here?
03:13Ricciardo's going to go around the outside, isn't he? With DRS assistance into Turn 1 and into the points as
03:19well.
03:21We ride on board with Lewis Hamilton, but let's see how much he's going to be staring
03:25and how much he's going to be gaining down the main straight here. The gap was eight tenths of a
03:30second at the end of the last lap. It's half a second as they cross the line now. Hamilton's got
03:34DRS.
03:35He's within touching distance of his teammate. He's ahead of his teammate. Lewis Hamilton goes around the
03:40outside of Valtteri Bottas. And wow, what another good move that was from the World Champion.
03:45So Valtteri's really gone heavily right, look. So he's pinched himself into Turn 1,
03:51and Lewis has just played the angles and steamed around the outside.
03:57Red Bull are going to pull the trigger and take the gamble with Max Verstappen
04:01and make the first pit stop of the top three runners.
04:06Verstappen is boxing, pick up the pace.
04:09It needs to be two seconds to give Valtteri a real fighting chance. That's sweet, that's not so bad.
04:15What's the time Crofty as it comes up?
04:173.3 seconds.
04:19Oh, I'm not sure. Bottas should stay out in front here, although Verstappen is gaining on him
04:24very, very swiftly. But it was enough of a gap that Bottas had over Verstappen to get into the pits
04:31and out ahead. Question now, Martin Brundl, on colder tyres, can he stay ahead?
04:35This is his moment, look at that. Sliding like crazy is Valtteri Bottas, trying to get the power down.
04:41And immediately then, Verstappen has a run at the inside, down into Turn 5. He's got all the track
04:46position he needs. Now he will just finish the job off and that all started when Bottas lit up the
04:52rear axle and Max just came up the inside of him with more confidence, more knowledge, more tyre
04:58temperature. Esteban Ocon has been closing on Carlos Sainz, enjoying that resilient hard compound tyre
05:05and this is how he made the move. Here comes Fernando Alonso, he's got DRS on Daniel Ricciardo.
05:11Down the main straight we go, Alonso moves past and round the outside of Ricciardo and into ninth.
05:17He does, two points. You've got Mick Schumacher closing in on Nicolas Latifi and here comes Fernando.
05:251-2 Tapas and he's through. As Pierre Gasly gets past Carlos Sainz and will pick up a point for
05:34doing so.
05:34There it is for Bottas then, a 1.19.8. What can Max do on the final tour? And now
05:41Verstappen's the
05:42fastest man in the first sector of anybody for the entire Grand Prix. First three Portuguese Grand
05:48Prix's won by racing knights and Sir Lewis Hamilton's been night and day ahead of the rest here in
05:54Portimao this afternoon. He wins the Portuguese Grand Prix. Max Verstappen is battling for the fastest lap of
06:02the race to add to the 18 points that he's going to pick up for second place. Hamilton will increase
06:07his lead at the top of the championship. Whatever happens on this lap for Max Verstappen. Red Bull
06:12just did not have the pace in the second half of this race to challenge Mercedes today. Verstappen
06:18comes home for second place and takes the fastest lap as well. So it's 19 points for Max Verstappen and
06:25Valtteri Bottas will come home to take the third place on the podium. Of course Verstappen within the
06:32red and white curb in turn 14 and yes Verstappen's time is deleted for track limits. Mercedes will get
06:40the point for a fastest lap with Valtteri Bottas. Red Bull will think right what do we now need to
06:45do to beat Mercedes and Mercedes will think what do we need to do to stay ahead of Red Bull
06:50and they
06:51haven't got much thinking time. We're off to Barcelona in just a few days. It was certainly Mercedes day
06:56here in the Algarve at the Portuguese Grand Prix.
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