Portugal is wrapped up and the title fight between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen remains tight! The Red Bulls set out this weekend hoping to take a chunk out of Mercedes’ momentum in either championship, but the track conditions proved to be tricky for everyone. Cold temperatures, hard tires, difficult track limits, heavy winds… you name it! Portimao threw everything at the grid this weekend and there was plenty of action! Friday began with all the drivers trying to get heat in the tires, some more successful than others. Nikita Mazepin continues to be a problem on track as he blocked off Sergio Perez in FP2 and later in the race. He earned his first penalty point of the season as a result, is this the first of many to come? (probably) Sebastian Vettel had an interesting moment, as he mistakenly went into the McLaren pitbox, wishful thinking? Max Verstappen and that Red Bull car continue to have small issues as he experienced some brake-by-wire failure in practice. Qualifying was an absolute blast, as we saw some fresh faces making it into Q3. Conversely, a shock exit from Q1 by both Lance Stroll and Daniel Ricciardo was all the talk around the paddock on Saturday. Esteban Ocon and Sebastian Vettel were the surprise guests of Q3 as Seb was finally able to drag his Aston Martin up the grid. George Russell was fractions away from getting his Williams into Q3 as well, a very impressive Saturday for him. The race was off to a hot start as we saw several swaps for the lead between Valtteri Bottas, Max Verstappen, and Lewis Hamilton. An early incident with old man Kimi Raikkonen running into his teammate Antonio Giovinazzi triggered an early safety car, which led to an impressive restart by Valtteri Bottas, but it wouldn’t last as he eventually drifted backwards, as he tends to do. Elsewhere, the Alpines looked impressive, as did Lando Norris with his continued run of good form. Daniel Ricciardo managed to save some face as he made his way into the points after that dreadful qualifying. Track limits continues to dominate the conversation unfortunately, and we hate it. Lastly, those god damn Heineken star tube trophies are back… woof. Tune in for another great race recap on Purple Sector! See you all on the track!
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