ROUND 12: HEINEKEN GRANDE PRÉMIO DE PORTUGAL 2020
When: SUNDAY, 25TH OCT 2020; 06:30 pm IST
Where to watch: Disney Hotstar
HISTORIC UPDATE: HAMILTON GRABS MIND BOGGLING 92nd WIN WITH A 25 SEC GAP TO VALTTERI BOTTAS ON P2! CHEERS LEWIS!
THE STARTING GRID
Mercedes have dominated every qualifying session in 2020. Despite having been stripped of their 'party mode' by the FIA in order to 'level the playing field', nothing seems to thwart their claim to the front row.
Lewis Hamilton started on pole position for the 9th time this season and for the 97th time in his Formula 1 career! With his team mate Valtteri Bottas in P2, Mercedes locked out the front row of the grid for the 9th time this season and for the 73rd time in Formula 1!
KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RACE:
Checo recovered from P20 to P7: Max VERSTAPPEN and Sergio Perez collided at turn 3 in a fight for P3, leaving the Mexican spinning into the gravel and rejoining the pack in last place with a puncture. After that painful pit exit, there was no stopping Checo as he made some brilliant overtaking moves and was on a flyer in practically every lap. He went all the way up to P5 but his tyres gave out and he had to settle for P7.
Räikkönen gained 10 places in Lap 1: Beautifully complemented by those soft tyres, the Iceman went shooting past from P16 all the way up to P6 in the first lap of the race. Kimi was running in the top 10 for a good part of the afternoon but a difficult pit stop and ageing tyres eventually landed him outside the points in P11. Sadly nothing was gained out of his quick start.
Carlos Sainz showed a blistering start as the Spaniard led Bottas by 1.3 seconds on his softs by lap 4! The Mercedes drivers struggled with tyre temperature initially and Sainz fell back as graining on his tyres allowed the others to overtake him with much ease.
The Flying Frenchman: Pierre Gasly has been showing a lot of competence, confidence and progress on the tracks after Red Bull switched him out for Alex Albon. Gasly started 9th on the grid and finished a solid 5th after a fabulous drive and some amazing overtaking attempts against Sergio Perez. The energetic young man has also picked up a podium this season - his first ever in Formula 1!
SOME INTERESTING STATS ABOUT HAMILTON:
Hamilton's 92 win tally = Alain Prost's (51) + Ayrton Senna's (41) !!
Hamilton previously held the record of having won on 27 different circuits. He extended his own record to 28 with this win.
Hamilton now holds 5 all-time records: - Most Wins - Most Podiums - Most Points - Most Races Led - Most Pole Positions
Hamilton won by the biggest margin in 2020 in this race - a stupendous 25.592 seconds!
All pictures used in this post are the courtesy of the Formula 1 Instagram page.
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