All the talk before the race was about the same two drivers as at the end of the last race out, George Russell and Valterri Bottas. Could Russell score his first F1 points at this race? Could Bottas win? Toto Wolff commented that Bottas's rebound from his "very bad weekend" was impressive. There was definitely a feeling that he needed to prove himself.
With no rain, unlike the last visit to Portamau and the track less new and slippy, the great unknown of the race was tire choice.
The first lap was clean with no incidents but by lap 2 Raikkonen was off and despite parking very cleverly near a gap in a gravel trap, brought out a full safety car. As debris was cleared from the main straight, Bottas trundled the pack around the track for several laps before deploying a cunning plan and backing Hamilton into Verstappen. This paid off and when they crossed the line, Verstappen was quickly in second. The other driver of interest, Russell was swiftly overtaken from having held his position in 11th down to 15th over the next lap.
The problem with Bottas' plan was that it put himself into the sights of Verstappen who immediately got the use of DRS. Luckily, Hamilton also received DRS and was able to retake the place from Verstappen after a slight mistake. As long as Hamilton and Verstappen continued to wrestle each other for P2, Bottas would be able to extend his lead. However, a third of the way into the race, just as drivers were conserving their tires, Hamilton was able to make the overtake using DRS. DRS definitely being the biggest player in this race. The question now was whether Verstappen was quick enough/Bottas slow enough for him to lose another place.
From then it was slightly processional until the one pit stop in the middle of the race. Verstappen pitted first and was able to take Bottas after his stop. This brief spurt of racey action didn't last. We saw Perez in the lead, which will look nice on his end-of-season briefing sheet.
The current expectation is that Mercedes will battle Red Bull and McLaren will battle Ferrari however Alpine were right in there, which is pleasing. In particular, when Alonso overtook Sainz.
As the grid settled into place towards the end of the race we were left with team mates battling each other. Vettel overtook Stroll. Alonso went for Ocon but was unable to secure it.
Bottas and Verstappen both pitted at the end of the race to secure the fastest lap point. Bottas claimed it, then Verstappen beat him...by going off the track limits, so Bottas got it back again. Di Resta got to break the news to Verstappen during the interviews. Hamilton claimed it was a very tough race, mentally and physically because of the wind. Bottas finished third in the end, despite his "strong package", he seemed to have no understanding why he could not maintain the lead of the race and secure the win. There seems to be a growing realisation in him that he is just not going to beat Hamilton.
And as for Russell, he finished 16th ahead of his team mate, the Haas and the retired Raikkonen. Russell will not score points until he is driving a car with the race pace.
I was very pleased during the race when Crofty confused Alpine with Williams - not just me who is struggling with the blue liveries.
Throughout the race we were urged to Visit Portugal....when? How?
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