Hamilton breaks record with 92nd F1 win

Lewis Hamilton now has more wins in Formula 1 than any other driver after winning his 92nd race on F1’s first visit to the Algave International Circuit.

The reigning champion won by a dominant margin at the Portuguese Grand Prix, finishing ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas, while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen joined the duo on the podium at Portimao.

Sergio Perez made a strong start, battling with Verstappen early on, but the two came together, sending the Mexican into the gravel and dropping him to the back of the field.

Bottas briefly passed Hamilton for the lead, but it was Carlos Sainz who found the best pace on soft tyres on the opening lap, as he overtook Verstappen and both Mercedes drivers to take first place.

As a few drops of rain fell at the Algarve International Circuit, there was also a strong start for Kimi Raikkonen, who gained 10 places over the first few laps to move up to sixth.

Sainz soon started to struggle on the soft tyres though, putting him under pressure from those behind, who were running the medium compound. Bottas, Hamilton and Verstappen all moved ahead of the Spaniard in quick succession, while Raikkonen also started to slip back.

Lando Norris and Lance Stroll both had to come in for new front wings when the two collided as Stroll tried to go around the outside at turn one, resulting in a five-second time penalty for the Racing Point driver.

Hamilton gradually closed down the gap to Bottas out front, despite complaining of a lack of grip from his tyres, cruising in front with the help of DRS at the start of lap 20.

Track limits was a challenge throughout practice, and continued to cause issues during the race, with Stroll and Romain Grosjean both receiving black and white flags for continually running off the track less than half way through the race. Stroll went off line again, earning him another five-second penalty.

Hamilton finally came in for his pitstop on lap 40, having built up a lead of more than 10 seconds over his teammate. Bottas boxed on the following lap, asking to be given the opposite tyres to Hamilton, but the team put both drivers on the hard compound. The Finn struggled to warm his tyres up initially, with the lapped Daniil Kvyat passing him on his outlap.

Having been dropped down the order after his coming together with Stroll earlier on, Norris’s woes continued as he picked up a slow puncture, forcing McLaren to bring him in for a second stop.

All 20 cars were still running with just 12 laps remaining, but the damage Stroll sustained during his collision with Norris forced Racing Point to retire the Canadian early.

Pierre Gasly almost collided with the back of Perez late on as he looked to move up to fifth, with the Racing Point driver defending aggressively, but the Frenchman had enough pace to get passed on the next lap

Kvyat and Grosjean both received five-second time penalties, with Kvyat serving his at a late pitstop, while Grosjean’s meant he was classified behind teammate Kevin Magnussen, despite crossing the line ahead of the Dane.

Hamilton also clinched the extra point for setting the fastest lap of the race, with the victory moving him ahead of Michael Schumacher’s 91-win marker.

Provisional classification:

1 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

2. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)

3. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

4. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)

5. Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri)

6. Carlos Sainz (McLaren)

7. Sergio Perez (Racing Point)

8. Esteban Ocon (Renault)

9. Daniel Ricciardo (Renault)

10. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)

11. Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo)

12. Alexander Albon (Red Bull)

13. Lando Norris (McLaren)

14. George Russell (Williams)

15. Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo)

16. Kevin Magnussen (Haas)

17. Romain Grosjean (Haas)

18. Nicholas Latifi (Williams)

19. Daniil Kvyat (AlphaTauri)

DNF:

Lance Stroll (Racing Point)