Records are Made to be Broken

 

Last time out the record for race wins was equalled in Germany. This time out history was created. 

The F1 world were convinced that the great Michael Schumacher's insane record of 91 race wins was never going to be beaten but yesterday the boy from Stevenage proved them wrong. 

In front of a grandstand that was finally packed with fans, the first ever race to be held in Portimao got underway in slippery conditions. With a light drizzle and the track being resurfaced just a month ago, there was plenty of action as the lights went out. Carlos Sainz in the lead, Lewis Hamilton falling to 3rd, Kimi Raikonnen making 11 places on his opening lap and Perez at the back of the grid were just a number of significant events that created a certain level of organized chaos around the track. 

As the drivers settled into their groove and tyres began warming up to temperature, Sainz was soon overtaken by both Mercs as Bottas took the lead of the grand prix following a brilliant move on his teammate. After his poor start, Verstappen regained 3rd place and those on the soft tyres all moved further back as the graining was just too severe to continue. This forced a lot of pit stop action to begin as teams were deciding whether to push for a 1 stop or settle for the safer 2 stop race. Meanwhile, those on the medium's were reaping the fruits of their hard work and smart choices as they would run a longer stint further into the race. Hamilton, after a patchy few laps, overcame the graining issue and sailed into the distance almost 10 seconds ahead of his teammate who surprisingly was struggling on the same tyre. 

Amidst all the tyre preservations, Charles Leclerc, who started 4th in the grand prix but lost places at the start, found himself back in 4th and giving Red Bull a run for their money as he kept within 3 seconds of Verstappen. But a round of pit stops found him further behind the Red Bull's who completed another sub 2 second stop - the pinnacle of pit stops if you ask me. Day in day out they come to the party and put others to shame. 

Red Bull's success was also seen on track by their sister team - Alpha Tauri. Pierre Gasly once again proved why he's a driver to look out for every single race weekend as he brought his car home in an incredible 5th place. A stunning drive which involved multiple overtakes on Perez, Vettel, Sainz and Norris gave him and the team a very important 10 points. Unfortunately his teammate didn't experience the same success as he did not even make the points. A sad sight after a brilliant first half of the season for Dani Kvyat. 

It must be argued, however, that the the DRS on the pit straight at Portimao is a bit too powerful. The number of cars that were overtaken at turn 1 reminds me of the overtakes we see at Sakhir in Bahrain and those with even a minor speed advantage get to enjoy overtaking with ease. Those who particularly did not enjoy it were the boys from France and the men in Orange. McLaren, after their brilliant start ended up going in reverse gear and fell down the order as their drivers finished 6th and 13th. Renault too were unable to get any temperature into their tyres as Danny Ric mentioned in his post race interview and only finished P8 and P9. A disappointing race for the Honey Badger who took his first podium for the French team 2 weeks ago. Having said that, Esteban Ocon would have been mighty pleased with himself after a race that saw him finally in front of his teammate who has out performed him at every instance so far this year. 

We're one week away from the first ever 2 day grand prix weekend that is going to be held at Imola, a historical race track. It is going to be incredibly interesting to see how the teams approach this weekend as they will have to understand both the long run pace using harder compounds, and preparing for qualifying with the softer compounds. It is likely that we will see Mr. Saturday AKA George Russel turn up once again after his good show this week in Portugal too. 

A weekend to remember for Lewis Hamilton, a weekend to forget for the boys in Pink. F1 fails to disappoint, and as usual be prepared for a cracker of a race as we head to Italy where the Tifosi will be back and roaring for their Prancing Horses.