On 1 October 2006 Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher climbed to the top step of the podium for the 91st time in his Formula 1 career. It was a staggering record and it seemed unfathomable that it would be broken soon, if ever. The very next year, in 2007, a youngster by the name of Lewis Hamilton would make his debut in Formula 1. Later that season he’d win his first race around Canada’s circuit Gilles Villeneuve. And in 2020 on a cloudy Algarve afternoon he’d step onto the top step of the podium for win number 92. To witness any driver’s rise through to the top is a privilege. But, with a staggering 183 wins between them, it is a glorious honour to have witnessed the two most successful Formula 1 drivers of all time.
Lewis Hamilton crushed Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas to the tune of 25 seconds as he headed to a record-breaking win in Portugal. Thought Bottas had looked the quicker of the Mercs for the majority of the weekend when it mattered most Hamilton was able to best him, as usual. As qualifying went the way of Hamilton so too did the race. But for a brief number of laps when Bottas took the lead of the race there wasn’t much in the way of a fight from the Finn. Verstappen, in third, didn’t have the pace to challenge the Mercs and was consigned to his customary third place.
Mercedes’s choice to start the grand prix on the medium compound invited a modicum of trouble at the start of the race as neither Bottas nor Hamilton’s tyres were up to temperature as the lights went out. By lap 2 Carlos Sainz, on the red-walled soft tyre, leapt into the lead of the race and ran in P1 for six laps before the McLaren succumbed to the much faster Mercedes pair. Kimi Raikkonen too made the most of an incredible getaway as he rocketed from 16th to 6th by the end of lap one. Verstappen had a slight coming together with Sergio Perez which dropped the Racing Point driver out of the points but not out of the race entirely with the clash being deemed a racing incident by the stewards.
A clash between Lance Stroll and Lando Norris earned both drivers front-wing damage. And in addition to spinning off Stroll was slapped with a five-second penalty for causing a collision. Up ahead Hamilton finally had enough temperature in his medium tyres and quickly swept into the lead of the race. He easily gapped Bottas to hold an eight second gap by the halfway point of the race. Verstappen, who stopped earlier than the front two, was clearly not able to match the pace of Mercedes and found himself more than a pitstop adrift of the race leader.
Meanwhile Charles Leclerc drove a stellar race for Ferrari to finish in P4 ahead of the continually impressive Pierre Gasly in fifth. Early race leader Carlos Sainz ultimately finished sixth ahead of Perez who recovered to an impressive seventh after his lap one tangle with Verstappen. Esteban Ocon played the long game on strategy by running a 53-lap opening stint on the medium tyre which netted him a fine eighth place ahead of his Renault teammate Daniel Ricciardo in ninth and Seb Vettel scored the final point on offer in tenth. Kimi Raikkonen ultimately ended the race in 11th but the Alfa Romeo driver certainly deserved some points for an excellent race. Not only did he ace the opening stint of the race but he also ran a 55-lap stint on the medium tyre and kept Ricciardo’s well in sight for most of the race in what was quit a phenomenal drive. For Valtteri Bottas it isn’t so much back to the drawing board as the championship for 2020 is all but over. In reality, the chances of the Finn winning the title have been minute for some time. But Hamilton continues to drive the point home with devastating frequency.
Ninety-two race wins, ninety-seven poles and soon seven world titles. The numbers are simultaneously astonishing and unsurprising. Since that first race win in 2007 there’s always been something intangibly brilliant about Lewis Hamilton. Ninety-two wins does not simply happen. There has to be something, someone rather special behind the wheel too.
All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport
