• Lewis Hamilton after securing victory in the Portuguese Grand Prix at the Algarve International Circuit on Sunday, May 2. EPA
    Lewis Hamilton after securing victory in the Portuguese Grand Prix at the Algarve International Circuit on Sunday, May 2. EPA
  • Lewis Hamilton after securing victory in the Portuguese Grand Prix at the Algarve International Circuit on Sunday, May 2. EPA
    Lewis Hamilton after securing victory in the Portuguese Grand Prix at the Algarve International Circuit on Sunday, May 2. EPA
  • Lewis Hamilton celebrates his victory in Portugal. Getty
    Lewis Hamilton celebrates his victory in Portugal. Getty
  • Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton is congratulated by Red Bull's Max Verstappen who finished second in Portugal. EPA
    Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton is congratulated by Red Bull's Max Verstappen who finished second in Portugal. EPA
  • Mercedes celebrate Lewis Hamilton's victory. EPA
    Mercedes celebrate Lewis Hamilton's victory. EPA
  • Lewis Hamilton ahead of Dutch driver Max Verstappen during Sunday's Portuguese Grand Prix. EPA
    Lewis Hamilton ahead of Dutch driver Max Verstappen during Sunday's Portuguese Grand Prix. EPA
  • Lewis Hamilton with Max Verstappen close behind. Getty
    Lewis Hamilton with Max Verstappen close behind. Getty
  • Red Bull's Sergio Perez ahead of Lando Norris of McLaren. EPA
    Red Bull's Sergio Perez ahead of Lando Norris of McLaren. EPA
  • Lewis Hamilton leads the pack on his way to victory. EPA
    Lewis Hamilton leads the pack on his way to victory. EPA
  • Kimi Raikkonen's Alfa Romeo is lifted off the track after crashing. EPA
    Kimi Raikkonen's Alfa Romeo is lifted off the track after crashing. EPA

Lewis Hamilton secures brilliant victory in Portuguese Grand Prix


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Lewis Hamilton delivered a magnificent drive in his Mercedes to win the Portuguese Grand Prix on Sunday.

Seven-time world champion Hamilton's 97th grand prix triumph extended his early season lead over Red Bull's Max Verstappen in the Formula One drivers' standings to eight points.

In third place in Portimao was pole-sitter Valtteri Bottas in the other Mercedes with Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull in fourth.

"That was such a tough race physically and mentally. I didn't get a good start and also lost out at the restart but it was a great result in the end," said Hamilton.

"There's a lot to download from today, improvements we can make. It wasn't all perfect so we will look at those points.

"It wasn't all perfect and we need to get ready now for the quick turnaround for Spain."

At a sun-drenched Algarve International Circuit Bottas led Hamilton from the two Red Bulls into the first corner.

By the end of lap one it was the safety car which led after the two Alfa Romeos collided, with Kimi Raikkonen's front wing littered across the straight after clipping Antonio Giovinazzi's car.

Bottas carefully controlled the rolling restart on lap seven but in his rearview mirror he will have seen Verstappen charge past Hamilton and into second.

"That a boy" was the pleased reaction on the team radio from the Red Bull pits.

But four laps later and a mistake by the Dutchman on turn 14 let Hamilton regain second, darting past on the inside with Verstappen snapping: "I'm just a sitting duck on the straight. It's unbelievable."

Hamilton hit the front with a superb sweeping move past Bottas at the start of lap 20, quickly establishing daylight between the Mercedes men.

Verstappen was the first of the leading group to pit on lap 36, with Bottas next, followed by Hamilton, with Perez yet to change tyres, in front.

With 13 laps left Hamilton pushed past Perez to regain control of the third leg of the record 23-race season, and from there the race was his to lose.

"I think Max made a mistake at some point and that was perfect. With Valtteri I had to make the move early on before the tyres were destroyed and I just managed to get him at turn one. Right on my limit. Great race," added Hamilton.

"We were not on top of it here but we'll see what we can do in Barcelona," said Verstappen, referring to next weekend's race in Spain.

"At the end, I think we just lacked a little bit of pace but overall, Lewis got by again and once after the pit stop, the warm up is super hard on this tyres.

Intrigue in the closing stages surrounded the question of who would end up with a potentially crucial point for the fastest lap.

Verstappen thought he'd clinched it only for his effort to be ruled out due to track limits with Bottas eventually taking the honours.

The Red Bulls are emerging as serious challengers to Mercedes' supremacy but the world champions have evidently worked hard to redress any imbalance in performance between the two teams.

And after three legs of the season it is Hamilton in his quest for a record eighth world crown that has won twice, adding this to his opening success in Bahrain, with Verstappen the winner in Imola.

Sitting third in the drivers' standings is Lando Norris for resurgent McLaren after the Briton took fifth on Sunday.

He came in ahead of the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, with the Alpines of Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso, Daniel Ricciardo [McLaren] and the AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly completing the top 10.