As the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix weekend is about to get underway, here are the main pointers I have taken from the first ever Portuguese Grand Prix.
A well received debut for Portimao
Like Mugello, the Portimao circuit was well received by fans, as although it wasn’t a thriller of a race, we were treated to some exciting wheel to wheel action, particularly in the midfield. The flowing nature of the circuit allowed for different lines to be taken that were just as fast as each other, meaning cars could follow each other more easily and drivers could easily fight back with switchbacks after being overtaken. The only issue was DRS making it too easy to drive past but this track certainly showed its potential.
Lewis Hamilton breaks Michael Schumacher’s record
When Michael Schumacher set his win record of 91 races, no one thought that record would ever be beaten. However a year after he retired for the first time came the rookie that was Lewis Hamilton. When he took his first win, ITV commentator at the time James Allen said it was the first of many. And he was not wrong, and just 14 years after Michael took his 91st win, that record has now been broken, and there is a chance that Lewis could hold this win record for a very long time. Especially as his number of wins looks like it is only going to get bigger and there is every chance he could be the first driver ever to win 100 races.
Gasly shows his class again
Pierre Gasly. Bravo. Once again continuing his extraordinary redemption after his demotion from Red Bull, by making a strategy work to finish in fifth, which really is higher than an AlphaTauri is really capable of doing. He is extracting everything from his car, further indicating the issues he had at Red Bull weren’t 100% down to him, and is affirming his status as one of the drivers of the year.
Perez shows why he deserves to stay in Formula One
When Sergio Perez was bashed into a spin by Max Verstappen, it looked like he was out on the spot. However that proved not to be the case. After his pitstop at the end of the first lap, as always he managed to make his tyres last long into the race, till Lap 45. Despite his final soft stint not working out as expected due to the fact the soft tyres did not seem to work well, he still finished in a creditable seventh place which was a great result considering the opening lap. He showed why he deserves to stay in F1 in 2021.
Verstappen gets a bit hot under the collar
He finished in third but it can be said that it was quite an incident packed weekend for Max Verstappen, after two incidents with a Racing Point car. Firstly with Lance Stroll in Free Practice 2 where the pair connected at the first corner in a fairly unnecessary incident. And secondly after coming into contact with Sergio Perez on the first lap. This incident was more of a case of two drivers meeting in an unfortunate place but Max’s temper has been on display a lot recently, we are commonly hearing radio messages from him complaining about blue flags, and he certainly made his feelings known after the Friday incident with Stroll.
The championship picture
It can be said that Lewis moved a step closer to that seventh world title, the gap is now up to 77 points back to his team-mate, meaning that whilst the title cannot be secured this weekend at Imola, it will likely be done and dusted in either Istanbul or the first race in Bahrain. Whilst Mercedes look on course to clinch the constructors this weekend at Imola. Here are the current championship standings after 12 races.
RaceWeek 