Portimao,
25
October
2020
|
17:05
Europe/Amsterdam

2020 Portugal Grand Prix – Race

KEY MOMENTS

  • Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton is now the most successful Formula 1 driver of all time, having taken his 92nd career win with a one-stop medium-hard strategy: predicted as the fastest tactic, despite a relative lack of pre-race running.
  • All three Pirelli compounds performed well despite the big challenges of the weather and the track, with a particularly impressive performance from the P Zero Yellow medium. Renault’s Esteban Ocon racked up 53 laps on it while Hamilton completed 45 laps (40 in race plus 5 in Q2) on this compound, with excellent consistency.
  • His team mate Valtteri Bottas, who finished second, ran an identical strategy, stopping one lap later.
  • Behind them, there was plenty of variation in strategy: with four different strategies in the top 10.
  • Most drivers stopped once but there were five two-stoppers – three of them using all three compounds - including Racing Point’s Sergio Perez, who finished seventh despite having to stop on lap one following some contact.
  • The weather remained quite cool for most of the day, with track temperatures in the region of 25 degrees centigrade and a few drops of rain just after the race start, as well as towards the end of the grand prix.

HOW EACH TYRE PERFORMED

  • HARD C1: Used by the Mercedes drivers for the second stint, taking two laps to warm up but then, and providing extremely strong performance as shown by Hamilton with his fastest lap at the end of the race. Haas driver Kevin Magnussen was the only driver to start on this compound.
  • MEDIUM C2: Played a key role in the race. Used to set pole and chosen by just over half the drivers to take the start, this tyre was capable of some very long stints, providing an excellent balance between performance and durability combined with great consistency.
  • SOFT C3: The softest compound in the range also demonstrated pace as well as consistency: McLaren driver Carlos Sainz used the instant speed of the red tyre to take the lead at the beginning of the race, with Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri) completing 28 laps on it.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

We’re very happy with the performance of all three compounds on a demanding circuit that the teams didn’t know well; also having had reduced running in free practice. Despite this, all three compounds showed both speed and durability, with a wide range of different strategies. Conditions today were tricky with reasonably cool track temperatures and even a bit of rain, but that didn’t prevent us seeing some impressively long stints, particularly on the medium tyre – which was clearly the one to have, as it also set pole. Congratulations to Lewis Hamilton for his incredible record: we’re privileged to witness history being made.

BEST TIME BY COMPOUND
HARD MEDIUM SOFT
Hamilton
1m18.750s
Norris
1m19.360s
Albon
1m19.890s
Bottas
1m19.345s
Verstappen
1m19.854s
Kvyat
1m20.449s
Leclerc
1m20.408s
Sainz
1m20.268s
Perez
1m20.802s
LONGEST STINT OF THE RACE
COMPOUND DRIVER LAPS
HARD C1 Latifi 40
MEDIUM C2 Raikkonen 54
SOFT C3 Gasly 28
PIT STOP SUMMARY
CAR DRIVER START PIT 1 PIT 2
44 HAM C2u C1n (40)  
77 BOT C2u C1n (41)  
33 VER C3u C2n (23)  
16 LEC C2u C1n (34)  
10 GAS C3u C2n (28)  
55 SAI C3u C2n (26)  
11 PER C3u C2n (1) C3u (45)
31 OCO C2n C3n (53)  
3 RIC C3u C2n (14)  
5 VET C2u C1n (27)  
7 RAI C3n C2n (11)  
23 ALB C3u C2u (19) C3u (46)
4 NOR C3u C1n (18) C2n (43)
63 RUS C2n C1n (36)  
99 GIO C2n C1n (28)  
20 MAG C1n C2n (31)  
8 GRO C2n C1n (26)  
6 LAT C2n C1n (24)  
26 KVY C2n C1u (25) C3n (55)
18 STR C2n C1n (18) C3n (34)

C1 = Hard C1 | C2 = Medium C2 | C3 = Soft C3
n = new | u = used