Sunday, May 02, 2021
Next damper for Vettel
Hamilton wins, Schumacher can also cheer
Lewis Hamilton is unbeatable at the Portuguese Grand Prix: The Formula 1 record world champion wins confidently from Max Verstappen. Sebastian Vettel can’t do anything with his good starting position in the race, Mick Schumacher can celebrate a small success.
In the wind lottery in the Algarve, Sebastian Vettel’s hopes for the points premiere in the Aston Martin were brutally dashed. In the second win of the season by Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton in Portugal, the Hessian was again empty-handed in 13th place, despite this time a failure-free race. Mercedes star Hamilton extended his lead in the overall standings in the hills of Portimão with the 97th Grand Prix success of his career. Challenger Max Verstappen had to be content with second place despite a strong drive. Third was Valtteri Bottas, who could not maintain his pole position in the less exciting race.
“That was such a tough race, physically and mentally. It would have been very easy to make mistakes. I have to recover two or three days now,” said Hamilton: “It wasn’t perfect today, we still have a few more stones turn around.” Verstappen spoke of a “decent race” and had to acknowledge: “In the end we lacked a bit of speed compared to the Mercedes.”
Action only at the start of the race
Newcomer Mick Schumacher brought his defeated Haas to the finish line in the third race of the season, and in 17th place he again left team mate Nikita Masepin behind. The World Cup, however, will continue to be shaped by the duel between Hamilton and Verstappen, who, like in Bahrain and Imola, made the victory among themselves. The British defending champion is now eight points ahead of the Dutchman with 69 points before continuing his journey to the Spain race next Sunday. Verstappen showed the first maneuver that was worth seeing right from the start.
Following a safety car phase, which was necessary after Kimi Räikkönen had left the Alfa Romeo on lap one, the youngster raced past Hamilton out of the slipstream at the restart. Four laps later, the Brit returned the favor and was second again. At the top, pole setter Bottas only had a clear run, because Hamilton could not attack immediately. On Saturday, Hamilton narrowly missed the 100th pole position of his career and finished second, taking the lead of the Grand Prix for the first time on lap 20.
Nobody could keep up behind the trio of Hamilton / Bottas / Verstappen. Vettel lost tenth on the grid in the 18th lap to ex-team-mate Daniel Ricciardo. The Heppenheimer had fought his way back into the top ten for the first time after 15 unsuccessful attempts in the qualification in the Algarve. On his third outing in the Aston Martin, Vettel was only able to defend himself more or less well, and again it was not enough for attacks in the British automaker’s racer.
Schumacher manages a small coup
After a third of the race distance, Vettel was one of the first to pits to change tires, while Mick Schumacher’s duel with Masepin was primarily about not finishing last. In his rookie season, the 22-year-old kept the Russian at a distance, but was quite inferior in the fight for his first championship point and the other racing teams. After all: Shortly before the end of the race, the son of record world champion Michael Schumacher managed the first successful overtaking maneuver of his young Formula 1 career against one of the established premier class drivers: The German chased the Williams driver Nicolas Latifi over many laps after a brake on the Canadian Schumacher pulled past – leaving a second driver behind for the first time alongside his team-mate. “We can be happy with what we have achieved,” said the 22-year-old.
On the circuit of the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, Hamilton complained about the high tire wear on the pit radio even before half of the laps to be completed. The slippery asphalt and extreme wind, as in the previous year, also caused some problems for the pilots. Nevertheless, Hamilton kept the lead with the fastest times, Bottas had to defend himself against Imola winner Verstappen behind.
With 30 laps to go, Verstappen was the first of the trio to switch from the middle to the hard tire compound – and was rewarded. The title contender was able to dup Bottas shortly after he stopped and went on the hunt for Hamilton once more. However, this was not successful – even if Red Bull was clocking. The Mexican Sergio Perez had to drive much longer than the competition with his first set of tires in first place and should stop Hamilton after his stop. That didn’t work and the Briton was back at the front after an effortless overtaking maneuver.
For Vettel, the points in the final phase finally got out of reach and it got really bitter. First Antonio Giovinazzi passed the four-time world champion in the Alfa Romeo, shortly afterwards stable rival Lance Stroll from Canada also succeeded. At least Stroll was able to intercept Vettel on the last lap, but by then he had already been lapped by ex-permanent rival Hamilton.
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