Lewis Hamilton extended his title lead to eight points over Max Verstappen with a comfortable win at the Portuguese Grand Prix.

Hamilton dropped from second to third at the start of the race but clawed his way into the lead by Lap 20, and although his ultimate victory margin of 29.148s over second-placed Verstappen was exaggerated by a late pit stop for the Red Bull Racing driver, the world champion was unchallenged in the second half of the race.

Pole winner Valtteri Bottas led Mercedes teammate Hamilton and Verstappen cleanly off the line in qualifying order, but a safety car restart on Lap 7 — the race had been neutralized to collect Kimi Raikkonen’s broken front wing — allowed the Dutchman to slip past the Briton for second place around the outside of the first turn.

Continue reading on RACER

Lewis Hamilton made victory look easy at the Portuguese Grand Prix with a cruise to a half-minute victory over championship rival Max Verstappen, but the Briton had to work to stretch his championship lead.

Valtteri Bottas took pole by just 0.007 seconds at the Portuguese Grand Prix, but such is the closeness of the frontrunners that Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen can both make valid claims to P1.

Valtteri Bottas is the third different pole-getter of the season after besting Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton to lock out the front row of the grid for the Portuguese Grand Prix.

Valtteri Bottas has taken his first pole of 2021 after Max Verstappen had a quicker time deleted for running off the track.

Verstappen was the first of the front-runners to set a time in the Portuguese Grand Prix pole shootout but had his time cancelled for running off the track at Turn 4 while collecting a moment of oversteer. The Red Bull driver lost time in the snap, but Turn 4 has been designated as a monitored corner for track limit violations, and the stewards were quick to erase his time.

Bottas was then clear to take top spot with a best time of 1m18.348s, and Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton slot into second just 0.007s adrift.

Continue reading on RACER