Start, Autodromo do Algarve, 2020

Hamilton masters tricky Algarve conditions to break Schumacher’s victories record

2020 Portuguese Grand Prix summary

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Lewis Hamilton made Formula 1 history by scoring the 92nd victory of his career in a lively Portuguese Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver has broken the record for most F1 wins by a driver, which Michael Schumacher has held since 2001.

The race got off to a lively start as a sprinkling of rain in the opening laps made conditions treacherous. The drivers who started on the soft tyres enjoyed the benefit of their quicker warm-up than those on the mediums.

Max Verstappen got in among the Mercedes drivers but ran wide at turn three and was re-passed for second place by Valtteri Bottas. Hamilton then lost the lead to his team mate.

But the soft-tyred McLaren drivers then caught the pair of them. Carlos Sainz Jnr dodged his way through into the lead, while Norris briefly held third behind Bottas. However once the track began to dry the McLarens slipped back, and the Mercedes pair resumed the lead, stretching ahead of Verstappen.

Hamilton retook the lead from Bottas halfway through his first stint and never looked likely to be headed from that point on, despite reporting cramp late in the race. Bottas collected second having found little grip when he returned to the track following his sole pit stop. Verstappen was unable to catch the Mercedes drivers and came in third ahead of Charles Leclerc, the Ferrari driver fighting back after losing ground on the first lap.

Sergio Perez made a fine recovery drive to hold fifth place in the final laps after being knocked into a spin by Verstappen on lap one. But he suffered tyre graining late on the race and was passed by Pierre Gasly and Sainz over the final two laps, leaving him seventh.

Having run a very long first stint, Esteban Ocon emerged from his belated pit stop ahead of Daniel Ricciado, and the Renault drivers finished in that order. Behind them Sebastian Vettel beat Kimi Raikkonen to the final point, while Alexander Albon struggled to 12th.

An unhappy Lando Norris took 13th after running in the top three early on. He was judged the victim in a collision with Lance Stroll which left both drivers with damage. Stroll became the race’s only retirement after dropping to last place.

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2020 Portuguese Grand Prix reaction

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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172 comments on “Hamilton masters tricky Algarve conditions to break Schumacher’s victories record”

  1. Well done to Lewis Hamilton. Wins king and soon to be, WDC king. Up to the young pretenders and the other teams to step up. But for now- whether the armchair critics like it or not- Hamilton is up there with the very best the sport has ever seen. What a race- Sainz at the start putting manners on everyone.

    1. HAMMERTIME!!

    2. Phenomenal driver. Legend. how he took the lead while on the same strategy as Bottas !

      1. This circuit with his hills and blind corners was a true test of the driver skill and motor memory.
        The fact that it was an unfamilar track, and that they had fewer days to learn the course, really turned this record breaking race into a challenge.

        The opening had most of the cars flat spotting into that tight corner. To add to all this, you had Hamilton developing legs cramp, having to battle through that.

        He gives up the lead, dropped behind to 3rd, and yet still comes from behind to win. If i didn’t know better i would say it was very shroud. Driving behind the other cars, which effectively showing him the breaking zones, thus saving his tires.

        Then coming from behind when he had refamiliarised himself with the track in race conditions, and then winning by over 25 seconds. Very shrud indeed. Pole, win & fastest lap. A fitting way to this new record.

        Of course ever win from here on, will be a new record. Well done indeed.

  2. Yep well, I know it’s not the purists opinion but I’m now officially more bored by Hamilton as I was of Schumacher.

    1. @skipgamer Shame you couldn’t appreciate the skill needed to take the win today and by a big margin.

      1. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a great driver and I fully respect his abilities, just like Schumacher, he just makes for boring races =\ Nothing against him personally at all.

        1. Someday people will face the reality that Hamilton is beaten “nobody”.
          His biggest rivals are Bottas and Verstappen – one has the car, but not the speed; other is the opposite.
          Vettel struggles to get a 10th. Leclerc gave a fight while Ferrari allowed it.
          I am still not convinced that Hamilton’s adversaries were stronger than Prost’s.

          1. Nobody cares if you are convinced or not…

          2. You can only beat those who challenge you.

            He has been challenged for 14 years from the likes of Alonso, Kimi, Vettel, Button, Rosberg and Max Verstappen.. And he has beaten them all. What more do you want?

          3. Schumacher had who to beat again? Hill, Coultard, Barrichello (He wasnt allowed to race plus Irvine)

    2. Blame it on Mercedes rivals – RBR and Ferrari who oversell and underperform.

    3. If you were bored by that then maybe F1 isn’t for you? A race that had several overtakes for the lead and good action up and down the grid. What more do you want?

      1. A race that had several overtakes for the lead and good action up and down the grid.

        Coming down the straight to turn 1, press a button, and he’s past! Such good action. I wonder if some of you are watching the same thing some times…,

        1. I wonder that too @skipgamer

          You clearly missed multiple battles where drivers were going side by side for several corners at a time. Sure a lot of overtakes were DRS related but there were many into turn one which were still close and exciting to watch

          1. Eh it wasn’t my point anyway to complain about the race, just bored of F1 in general by Hamilton always winning.

            As I said in my OP I know it’s not the purists opinion. For them Hamilton breaking records is exciting, for me, it’s as boring as when Schumacher set them.

        2. I really enjoyed the race, but I’d have to agree that DRS zone was too long.

      2. @Tom

        As sick of you are of people who complain F1 sucks now. We’re just as sick of people like you who are thrilled with what F1 has become because it puts less pressure on the sport to reform in the way it needs. When there is a consensus among a fan base that something is broken, there’s a much greater chance something will happen.

        Anyway, I actually thought this was a pretty good weekend overall, but for reasons that will be exclusive to this season. A non-Tilke track (I love to see them race on the sorts of track I race on) where these teams don’t have so much data that things unfold with boring predictability. Imagine, if they give them three practice sessions, how much better the racing would be and how much more it would rely on drivers’ natural skill and adaptability. It’d save money and improve the show. If you need something on Fridays to entertain people, have the F1 drivers compete in a mandatory spec touring cars or have vintage F1 races. There are a million things you could do on Friday that’d be more interesting than free practice.

        I watched every race from 1980-2010 in the past year. So, don’t tell me it was always like this either.

        1. Imagine if they DID NOT give them three practice sessions*

        2. Rose tinted glasses, Nick. When i watched back the first races i started with (99 and up) and some vintage races… F1 was even more boring than it is now.

    4. @skipgamer Why watch something that makes you bored? Weird.

      1. Lots of reasons to follow a sport, for me I follow F1 because I’ve always had an interest in motor racing, and F1 is simply the best and biggest, the pinnacle of motor racing.

        And Hamilton isn’t the only thing in F1, there’s plenty other to be entertained by (thankfully)

        1. @skipgamer

          Lots of reasons to follow a sport

          Quite. But your OP didn’t mention those other reasons-the exciting racing between Perez and Ocon, the drama with Stroll and Norris etc etc. You were specifically moaning about one guy and one team winning to which I rightfully pointed out- that if you are so bored of this driver and team combination winning- you don’t have to watch. Point still stands methinks.

          1. I get bored of seeing one driver winning so I should switch off? Man, good thing no one listens to your advice or there’d only be the Hamilton fans left watching…

          2. And I really wasn’t moaning, just pointing out his new record interests me as much as the last driver that had the record.

            I even pointed out I know the purists would disagree so yeah, don’t really know why you went to the effort of telling me something I already know…

          3. @skipgamer

            ood thing no one listens to your advice or there’d only be the Hamilton fans left watching

            Man, good thing you don’t speak for everyone. So don’t overestimate your POV by thinking all F1 fans see F1 through the same lens as you. They don’t.

            And I really wasn’t moaning

            Actually you were mate- and like I said- you didn’t point out the other interesting aspects of today’s race. Definitely a moan- but whatever floats your boat.

          4. @blazzz

            You obviously don’t read. Quote more and write more, it’ll get you far.

          5. @skipgamer

            Right back at you- a better perspective of the race and events would actually do you good, other than spouting off soundbites that you then go on to try and deny.

        2. @skipgamer Don’t bother explaining too much mate. Most won’t understand rationality anyway. Basically, I second your opinion and just like you, I admire Lewis’ skills but yes, we all want some more competition.

    5. Who cares about what you feel. Your moaning is just boring for the rest of the community.

      Maybe drink some Redbull. ☢️

      1. Get a life no namer, what community are you a part of?

        1. At least I’m not a bitter person like you.
          Sore los.er.

          1. lol, rightio mate.

        2. Hang on…ROTT is an absolute weapon but what sort of lame insult is “no namer”? I assume you are referring to him having no account?

    6. Congrats Champ. Rooting for you the whole time. Go on and on. Make it even harder for the pretenders to surpass your records although I must admit records are meant to be broken even yours. Cheers..

    7. @skipgamer Somehow I feel you would not be bored if Verstappen was winning all races

      1. @f1osaurus

        What makes you think I’m a Verstappen fan? That’s pretty odd, and yeah I would be… Ricciardo on the other hand ;)

        1. @skipgamer Heh ok, what if Ricciardo was winning all races then?

          I would love to see Ricciardo winning some more though

          Ricciardo at Ferrari for 2017 to 2019 would have been epic I’m sure, but of course even he could never beat Hamilton ;)

  3. Well, the first lap was pretty good.

  4. Total domination from Lewis. Great performance all round and a well deserved win.

    He wiped the floor with Bottas today. I don’t see him coming back from this.

    Once again, congrats to Lewis for breaking records.

  5. Mercs have stopped working on 2020 car and started work on 2021 car. This result is a serious warning to its rivals with only 4 drivers on lead lap today.

  6. Hsm’s just a master of the dynamics of f1. Max said he was surprised by the speed of the mclaren, Lewis said he set his car up for the temperatures, he pretty much said he knew what he was doing and what to expect, everyone else is clueless.

  7. Gasly driver of the day for me.

    1. Yep brilliant drive, has been excellent all year

    2. Gasly who?
      Lewis is the only Driver of the day, driver of the weekend and Driver of the Season.
      Everyone else is second best.

      ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

    3. Agreed, great driver.

    4. Yep – Gasly for me too.

  8. is lewis lying when he said his tyres are gone or that he has cramps? despite that he sets the fastest laps every other lap when others are complaining about difficult weather. if he isnt thats just crazy pace.

    1. It’s to create drama and give the impression he had to fight against the odds to claw victory from the mighty Valtteri Bottas.

      1. Some people get up on a day and look forward to being bitter and miserable.

      2. Ayyyyyye! Bondo! Glad you joined us! What you think of that world record breaking performance of LH?

        1. World record breaking performance? You know hamilton’s win record without a dominant car stopped at around 20 and that schumacher has 50-something and that there’s other drivers that would fit between the 2?

          Dominant car wins only mean nothing, you need to win also with competition!

          1. (maybe too harsh here, we should examine the year 2017 and 2018, he could have 30 non-dominant car wins)

          2. Schumacher WHo?????
            He is a bad driver who feeds on his team mates and dirty driving, and karma always gets back.

            Lewis is nothing like you’ve ever seen before. He dominates and lives in folks like your heads. 😀😀

      3. Sigh. All he said was “my left front doesn’t feel great” you obviously hear what you want to hear

        1. Mr ‘No Name’
          26th October 2020, 7:11

          And just a few minutes after Verstappen said pretty much the same. And probably numerous drivers throughout the race… except F1 choose to only release selected radio coms. If anyone is trying to “create drama” it’s the directors of the F1 live feed……

    2. He never said his tires were gone. His exact words were “the front left doesn’t feel great”. Probably when the tire was going through the graining phase.

      1. And he then immediately launched his attack on Bottas, reeling off fastest laps until he’d passed him. I’m sure had some truth, but it was really all about disguising what he was about to do.

    3. Nah lewis is so good because he is constantly worried about what could go wrong and prepares for it if it happens

    4. As much as I dislike Lewis, it’s insane for anyone to contend he isn’t deserving of being ranked with the two 2-4 F1 drivers of all time (I know the OP wasn’t saying this…I’m referring to some of the other convo). The man got the upper hand on Alonso in his rookie season and while Lewis did have a better relationship with the team, they both had the same equipment and no one was favored. Imagine what we would say about a rookie who came in right now and tied or beat Hamilton or Max over a season.

  9. Really, that was a race where Hamilton’s skill came to the fore. Having won pole through outsmarting Bottas, he was still under pressure from an equally fast team mate. He mentioned in interview after the race that he’d felt big understeer at the start and backed off, deciding not to defend from Bottas and wait to retake later. That’s already a different mindset. He then nursed the tyres in preparation for that challenge and with the wind picking up used the opportunity to pick up the pace (after the standard bluff about a poor tyre). Thereafter he blew Bottas away with car control, feel for the track and care with the tyres. That’s how he got to 92 race wins. Congratulations.
    Leclerc and Gasly also looking good. Verstappen? Disappointingly anonymous again.

    1. Yeah Max had no pace today. But still, I guess he can console himself by looking at how awful Albon is unlike the Ricciardo days.

      1. Not to mention the contact with Perez following his earlier contact with Stroll in practice.

      2. @blazzz Albon was poor, but he was also again sacrificed for data gathering for Verstappen’s strategy.

    2. @david-br It’s interesting that Hamilton was able to outsmart Bottas by doing an extra lap in qualifying, but when Bottas wanted to try a different strategy in the race today, Mercedes wouldn’t allow it.

      1. They were both given the choice yesterday. Neither were given the choice today.

      2. @red-andy Both drivers were free to choose their qualifying strategy. As for the race, aside from this being standard Mercedes policy for both drivers, you really think a different strategy would have allowed Bottas to beat Hamilton? No. Their concern was Bottas not losing 2nd place to Verstappen.

        1. @david-br No, I doubt it would have made a difference given the gap between them. Just strange that they didn’t follow “standard Mercedes policy” yesterday, that’s all.

          1. @red-andy They didn’t follow standard policy because switching to mediums instead of softs in Q3 was highly exceptional, unparalleled really. Plus the special additional factor: the mediums may be better on a second fast lap. So with that uncertainty, they left the drivers to decide which they preferred. I didn’t understand Bottas’s rationale for 1 lap, saying that the car would be lighter, since surely the target remaining fuel for 3 laps is the same as 1 lap (calculating how much fuel and weight they’d use). But it could have worked out for him since the wind picked up right at the end, slowing the times slightly too, probably denting Lewis’s final run. But there’s nothing sinister as far as I can see.

      3. They both were given the choice of number of laps in qualifying. Lewis beat Bottles by 25 sec on the same tires. Bottles could have been under pressure from Max on the softs. Bottles himself said post race that he had no pace today.

        1. Damn spell check, changes Bottles to bottles.

          1. Posting a second time, to correct an error in the first post, takes longer than proofreading the first post? 🙄

      4. Nothing amazing in it, except for those who want to bury their heads in the sand.

        Both drivers were given the option of doing 3 runs in Q3, but Bottas declined because he didn’t want to carry the fuel penalty amd thought he needed only the one lap on the Mediums for pole. These were his OWN words.

        As for a requesting a tyre offset strategy to beat your teammate in a race, obviously, that cannot be allowed because it would be unfair to the other driver – whoever that happened to be.

        More so, Bottas knew it wouldn’t be allowed because that rule was already agreed between all parties (Mercedes and the drivers). Furthermore, Bottas had tried it before and it was declined.

        It was more a sign of desperation more than anything else.

        1. Even Lewis requested for it in the last race and he was declined

          1. They would likely allow them to fit a slower tyre but not a risky faster tyre.

      5. The red walled tyres are not suitable for this circuit witness Perez’s struggles towards the end and Verstappen also at the start of the race

      6. @red-andy

        You

        must be

        an F1 casual. This is how Merc have always operated- even pre-hybrid days. The lead car dictates the tyre strategy. In fact when Hamilton joined Merc he was quite vocal about that difference compared to Mclaren- other teams have two chief strategists that look after both cars but Merc only has James Vowles and no driver is allowed a tyre advantage. We have seen the same when Bottas is leading too and Hamilton has tried to instigate a different strategy which was rejected so again, casual comment.

      7. But the soft was a horrid race tyre – good for about five laps then rubbish. I honestly think if Mercedes had let Bottas go to the softs that Verstappen would have caught him.

      8. @red-andy Bottas would more likely have lost P2 if they had listened to him.

        Just gambling for the gamble of it makes no sense at all. Why would Mercedes risk their one-two just for some useless gamble?

    3. Man I don’t know why this is still a surprise? How many years does Hamilton have to destroy Bottas before people realise he just can’t mount a serious challenge.

      1. @skipgamer Who could? However plenty of those posting here love to talk up Bottas when he performs well – rightly acknowledging that he’s fast. Yet when the conditions (variables) arise for Hamilton to show his exceptionalism, Bottas is immediately downgraded as useless. That’s just intellectually dishonest.

        1. I dont think he’s useless, but I’m certainly not jumping on the bandwagon of singing Hamilton’s praises just because he beat his slower team mate… Again…

          1. @skipgamer
            Bottas is certainly better than Albon and Gasly. Why ren’t you moaning about Red Bull putting in a competetive driver that can atleast challenge Verstappen for the podium places like we had in Ricciardo? Starting to smell a rat with your trend of comments on this thread.

          2. @blazzz
            A rat? lol

            What exactly do you feel my intentions are?

            I’m really not moaning about anything. Perhaps read them in a different light. Not everything has to be an argument.

        2. Who could?

          Rosberg did in their last season together?

          1. @David Bondo
            Actually not just their last season together- but Rosberg took the championship to the last round in 2014 as well. But yeah Rosberg decided he didn’t want any part of it anymore. So I guess blame Rosberg? I’m sure that’s what you’d be saying if it was Hamilton that retired after finally getting one on over Rosberg since karting.

          2. And Rosberg ran…..ran ran ran….. lol.

            The fact you bring Rosberg into any of your comment says a lot of you. Jus5 another los.er. 😀😀😀😀

        3. Rosberg could, and he even beat him to the championship one year. A sustained period of pressure usually causes Hamilton to make mistakes. Bottas just isn’t anywhere near the required level to do this.

          1. Yeah. It too 8 engine related issues, 3 missed qualifying sessions, 4 grid drops, and one dnf for Rosberg to beat Lewis in 2016. What an achievement!

            The point is, Lewis Hamilton actually wiped the floor with Rosberg in 2016, but don’t let your blind prejudice stand in the way of the facts.

            And we are still waiting for Red Bull to put a decent driver beside Max Verstappen. Oh… but that happened before, and we know how it turned out.

          2. Yes, inbefore someone accuses me to be a hamilton hater (I just hate no-competition, and there’s no driver who had a more dominant car on average than hamilton did, I will never agree with this “most wins = best driver” stuff, especially when, even ignoring schumacher, you have drivers who physically couldn’t get 100 wins, who are probably superior, such as fangio, ascari and clark, simply cause they drove less than 100 races!), hamilton definitely drove better than rosberg in 2016, it took a real amount of luck for rosberg to win, and the fact he wasn’t a bad driver already and it took such an amount of effort to win took too much effort from him and he left f1, so I think 2016 only makes hamilton look better, but I think most of his mercedes titles were particularly hollow, especially the ones against bottas.

          3. Bottas has speed, but he simply cannot match his speed without destroying his tires. Trust me, I know the feeling. I’ve driven against some really good racers and I’ll be all over them or past them for the first half of the race and then finish half a lap behind. Being fast without destroying your tires is an art. Sadly, there’s only so much you can work on. A lot of it is just your natural driving style.

          4. Quite enjoyed Rosberg’s journey from team orders in 2013 to finally putting Hamilton in his place in 2016, just as much as Hamilton putting Alonso in his place in their year together.
            Such a shame that F1 discourages such strong competition, which is what racing at its DNA should be about.

  10. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

    Lewis…the GOAT!
    Hammer🕓🕓Time

  11. well, today, more than ever, he made bottas look like a fool.
    The poor guy never had a chance.

  12. That START from Raikkonen!

    1. yeah, that was great how he got there….pity he couldn’t finish top ten!

      1. It was very close

  13. Albon’s slowness, though. He’s only got one more event left to prove, and the chance of staying at RBR beyond the end of this season isn’t great after how he’s fared in the three most recent races.

    1. I think his career highlight will be that 3rd in Mugello

    2. Will be interesting to see what happens there, it has to be the Verstappen effect, he was keeping pace at the start of the year, but defeat after defeat you can see that downward spiral…

    3. Hallo Alex, it’s Dr. Marko. Unfortunately you may have Covid or something and must isolate until Christmas. Trust me, I’m a doctor. We will have to substitute Hulkenberg for the remainder of the season.

    4. He is thai and Redbull is 51% thai owned.
      I think redbulls bigger problem is how big mouth max and Horner going to integrate a bicycle engine inside the only thing they produce, the chassis.

      Weak team. Oh and they spend too much time doing pit stops while Merc too busy developing 2021 challenger.

      1. Is this real? Red Bull is 51% owned by Thai? They should develop the car around both drivers just like Mercedes. Pit stops don’t mean nothing unless those make the difference. Clearly Mercedes the better team. Especially with Horner and Marko. Meh…

        1. @krichelle the person who came up with the original formulation was Chaleo Yoovidhya, a Thai businessman who invented that energy drink in the 1970s for the local market. Mateschitz then formed a partnership with Chaleo to market the drink internationally, with the Yoovidhya family having 51% of the company – and that is largely how it’s stayed since then.

      2. they spend too much time doing pit stops

        They spend less time doing pit stops than everybody else…

        1. One assumes that in order to produce sub two second pit-stops, RBR must spend a lot of time practicing them. I think the suggestion was that maybe their time would be better spent producing a faster car?

    5. It’s hilarious how there are people who still think its the driver. Just look how gasly is showing his skills this year. Red bull need to stop sabotaging maxs teammates

  14. Say whatever you want, but that was massacre by Lewis Hamilton.

    If that wasn’t a “don’t mess with me” message, i don’t know what is.

    1. What Leclerc did to a 4 time champion is a massacre. Lapping your teammate is a massacre.

      1. To be honest, Vettel is never a great driver.
        Lewis is the best ever.
        ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

        1. lol, rightio mate.

          1. Blaize Falconberger (@)
            25th October 2020, 16:20

            Vettel was great in his day – and was just as dominant although his was shorter than Hamilton’s reign at the top. I think the lad has just lost his motivation… he needs to win to be fired up it seems.

          2. @timeslides

            Vettel was great in his day

            Was he though? He pretty much only won from the front row. Always has bveen incredibly error prone. Only twice did he have a decent team mate and both times he was destroyed.

          3. How many of Hamilton’s wins are from the front row I wonder?

          4. I would say vettel was good back in red bull days, not great, but in any case even accounting for the car he isn’t the driver he used to be.

          5. David Bondo The question is how many races did Hamilton win, not starting from the front row, vs Vettel.

            Vettel never won a race starting lower than P3. How about that for a stat?

            Hamilton won Germany 2018 from P14 against Vettel starting from pole.

        2. Charles is the faster driver obviously, but it’s clear they’ve put 100% of their effort into making sure the car (and every other detail) is set up around Charles’ preferences and style while Seb gets no influence. Vettel and Charles were quite evenly matched before this season. Even being demotivated wouldn’t account for such a performance drop. To be clear, I don’t think they’re sabotaging Vettel. I think they’re just basically ignoring him and understandably so. One driver is their future. The other is a driver they’ve already kicked out of the team.

        3. You are my kinda commenter! I like you. Lets have a drink one day! :-)

      2. since when it’s up to you to decide what a massacre is ?

      3. Great drive but Charles, but Lewis has also lapped his teammates quite a few times. Next.

          1. Proofread first? 🙄

      4. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
        25th October 2020, 16:08

        Different team Bondo – different team :-) Vettel in a Ferrari would have been very close to Leclerc;-)

    2. Blaize Falconberger (@)
      26th October 2020, 10:19

      @f1osaurus I agree! Terribly error prone and hugely unpredictable… but he was ruthless and would do just about anything to win and became 4x world champ…

      I never liked his on-track personality… in my mind he was a bit of a psycho and if people thin Hamilton moans, Vettel was the moaning champion of the universe! Who could forget the FU Charlie incident… Lol. Or when he crashed into Hamilton in purpose in a road rage? Off-track he seems perfectly agreeable.

      Still, his winning streak was super dominant and I have to credit him with that.

      1. @timeslides Ruthless only to Webber though. He could never overtake any other car. Vettel did benefit from the fastest car and after 2010 they even took away the competition from his team mate. That works.

  15. Get in there Max and Charles.

    Incredible by Max to be 8 seconds off one of the best cars in the history of the sport (might end up being better than the other Mercs by year end).

    To lap your teammate is truly incredible. Complete domination.

    Leclerc made a four time champion look stupid. These guy would be world champions if they had a car equal to the Mercedes.

    In my opinion Max and Charles are clearly the fastest on the grid.

    Well done to Hamilton he proved once again he’s quicker than Bottas. It was a shame that Bottas wasn’t allowed to challenge Hamilton by going onto a contra strategy. Mercedes might say we don’t one driver advantaged over the other, but numerous times they’ve completely compromised Bottas’s race to make him a rear gunner to slow down the Ferrari, they forced him to move over and hand the win to Hamilton in Russia 2018. Seems they don’t always care about doing what’s fair.

    1. Dismal stuff. You embarrass yourself.

    2. Lol.

      Max did nothing. The second best car cruised to P3. Put Alonso in that car, or Lewis, then you will know what it can really do.

      Vettel is no good and a tired employee. Mmm. Makes no sense to compare.

      1. Max lapped a guy that is fighting for his seat. Just destroyed him — as he did Gasly (who is no slouch), as he did Ricciardo (one of the best on the grid).

        Give credit where it’s due. Might be the most dominant drive of the year.

        1. Credit to Max – he did really well against his team mate and lapped him, that’s either excellence by Verstappen, useless by Albon or a bit of both.
          But – and here is where I don’t understand you – to use your logic all he did was prove he can beat Albon and finish where he is expected to. He was still a long way back from Bottas and over half a minute behind Hamilton. He also had unnecessary contact with both Racing Points over the weekend.

          1. +1. Bondo is probably Big Joe under his many guises across the years.

          2. @blazzz he seems to have traded under a few names – BigJoe, Oconomo and David Bondo seem to be three of the accounts that he has used – but it’s always the same hyperbolic praise for Verstappen that comes across as the breathless cry of a fanatical zealot.

    3. @Bongo – i actually feel embarrassed for you when you trot out such revisionist stuff. There is clearly a serious problem somewhere.

    4. Blaize Falconberger (@)
      25th October 2020, 16:24

      A great piece of fan mail there, but hey, it’s your opinion and therefore can’t be wrong.

      But I can also disagree…

    5. Just where does all this bitterness come from?

    6. Yes, imo the biggest crime is that verstappen and leclerc won’t win any title till they get a car able to match the best car of the year, and nowadays’ formula is way too dominant, there’s only a car able to fight for title, and it’s been since several years.

      1. @esploratore Leclerc did have a car matching or exceeding Mercedes for part of 2019. To be fair, he made mostly good use of it too. Before that, Vettel (and Raikkonen) had a good enough car to win a championship for 2 years, and the likes of Hamilton and Verstappen very probably would have done so in it. So it’s not true that there has only be one car capable of fighting for the title for several years. 2014-16, yes, fair enough.

        1. Only for small period midseason was the Ferrari better and that advantage was mostly in qualifying.

          In the end Ferrari won 3 races, while Bottas won 4.

          1. Shows just how good Bottas is if he can get 4 wins and consequently how good Lewis. Or how bad Max must be if he can’t even beat Bottas! Choose.

          2. Mid What??? Bahrain was the second race Charles was 10 seconds ahead of Lewis before his engine decided to misbehave
            Baku – Charles was going to be on pole before he crashed during qualifying
            China – Ferrari held Charles back for Vettel
            Monaco – Ferrari messed up his qualifying
            Canada – Enuff said

  16. Why did Mercedes keep Bottas for 2021? If they want Russell long term then why not build him into the team from next year already? Would be painful for Mercedes if Williams dropped Russell and Red Bull lured him. And they’d deserve it.

    1. why should they fire him? He was 2nd today, and is 2nd in the WDC. What’s the matter ?

    2. Because Williams said they wouldn’t release Russell from his contract for next year. Now, if the rumours are correct, it seems after a change of ownership, they might drop him anyway. But, at the point where Bottas was signed for 2021, Russell wasn’t available. I really hope he gets a drive next year and is beside Hamilton at Mercedes in 2022.

  17. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
    25th October 2020, 16:11

    Magisterial! Absolutely magisterial by Lewis! Is there any limit to this man’s ability?

    1. We won’t find out till he drives for Ferrari.

      1. Indeed, ferrari seems to be a career-destroyer for most great drivers, let’s see who had success: schumacher, ascari, I’m not sure but fangio might’ve won at ferrari, and definitely lauda of the great drivers, but others such as alonso, vettel or prost ended up in bad relationships with the team, even though I don’t really rate vettel.

        1. Jose Lopes da Silva
          25th October 2020, 22:26

          Capelli also ended up in bad relationship.

  18. Well Hamilton was all at sea when it was tricky, so there is hope for others if given equal conditions……but definitely a champions recovery when it all went back to normal.

    1. I’m not sure what you mean by ‘equal’ conditions? Was Lewis in a different race after lap 2 with different conditions to everyone else? I’d say for half a lap he struggled – possibly even just 4 or 5 corners where it’s always harder to be first through as you have no reference point.

    2. Lewis was ok, he just wanted to get through the opening lap and attack when later, which he delivered 100% effectively.

      What was Vestrappen’s excuse? Was on The red tires and was going backwards.
      Passed by sainz, Norris, and hit Perez….the Super overrated crashtappen legacy lives on.

  19. Mercedes domination is worse than Schumacher domination as it has lasted far longer and car is just too good! First time in almost 22 year I skipped todays race as it’s too boring.

    Lewis is great (one of the best) but I don’t think he can compete with a strong car / strong driver combo as Lewis finally lost against Roseberg and would have probably left Mercedes had Botas given him any serious competition (Botas just sucks royally).

  20. First I should clear the interest that am Lewis supporter, but today’s race make me think of the following
    Either Lewis is sandbagging during the practice for us to see how competitive his team mate (Bottas) is, cause it is not clear to me the person who struggled during the practice P8 in FP2, breaking lap times lap after lap.
    Or
    Bottas is very hard on his tires and LH knows that weakness so he just let him in front and shut down the windows when the right times comes, LH cuts the deficits of 2+ seconds for the second race in the raw

    But what a race what a Champion …, congratulations to LH and Mercedes Patronas for this achievement

    1. It’s clearly the second case. There are races that Bottas can keep up with Hamilton until his tyres drop off and instead of challenging Hamilton he has to fend off from Verstappen as well. Some recent races at Suzuka comes to mind.

      His gap to Verstappen was stable for the last 30 laps of the race, while Hamilton was 15+ seconds quicker.

  21. So Max was on the same soft tyre as Kimi when Kimi passed him in the early stages? ( I know he got the place back)
    And Albon was on the same tyre as Kimi later when he couldn’t get close to the Alfa for twenty laps?
    Just checking.

    And no penalty for Perez for his dangerous moves on Gasly going into turn 1?? F1 will be safer next year.

  22. Pierre Gasly is turning out to be a such an amazing Grand Prix driver. What a drive today to finish ahead of the car that led the first few laps. I wonder, if he were to go up against Max again, maybe he wouldn’t be as bad. Could be a decent Webber to Verstappen’s Vettel at the very least.

    He’s more experienced now and had matured a lot. Red Bull need to give their juniors more time before putting them in the senior time. Albon had done nothing to prove that he should get the promotion quicker than the likes of Verstappen, Vettel and Ricciardo. Half a season at STR/SAT is nothing.

    1. @wsrgo well redbull are famous for their complete polar treatment to first and second drivers so i wouldnt say he would stand a chance against max as long as max is there. no other teams even ferrari treat their 2nd driver worse.

      1. When have Red Bull asked a driver to move over and hand someone a win?

  23. Congratulations to Hamilton, and good luck for the future!
    I liked the race, a bit sadly it was not that eventful at the front from start to finish as it was for lower positions. If the track had been resurfaced a bit earlier, it could have been even better, although the low grip added a nowadays quite unusual bit to the excitements. I think overtakes could have happened with a shorter DRS zone at the main straight, because the penultimate turn is quite difficult, so not having a good speed carryover from there is occasinally present anyway.

  24. Hamilton’s won from the front row in 80 of his 92 wins.

    1. No David he has not

      Further check where he was for the wins off pole

      Trot those numbers out for us because they alone make history….

      Good try.

    2. David Dimbo – that’s because he has the most pole positions in F1 history. And blinded by your ridiculous praise of Verstappen, have you not realized that Lewis in Max’s Red Bull would regularly beat Bottas, something that Max can’t do.

      1. No way. Hamilton struggled to beat Rosberg in 2016 he’s not doing better than Max in the same equipment.

        I don’t see how having the most pole positions means anything. It’s all relative.

        Vettel has a lot of pole positions considering he only really had a dominant car for 1.5 seasons. Just from 2014-16 had a more dominant car than the RBR ever was. We’re now in 2020 and the Mercedes is still the best on the grid by a margin.

        1. There’s different ways to look at this. The best drivers have always in F1 found their way into the best cars. Yes Merc are dominant, but part of the reason for this is that they have Hamilton who is helping the team achieve that excellence. If, say, Merc had Grosjean and Stroll for the last 7 years, could you imagine them being on this dominant run?

          1. The pit wall and bank of computers in Brackley make all the big decisions. It’s not like the Schumacher or Prost era where driver feedback and input was a crucial nexus.

            At the end of the day his teammate beat him with the same equipment in 2016. Alonso wouldn’t have lost to Rosberg in 2016.

        2. Rosberg won in 2106 because Lewis that year he had an unusually high number of mechanical problems and DNFs. If Lewis had experienced the same number of mechanical problems as Rosberg had, no way would Rosberg have won. If Lewis has 5 DNFs in the next 5 races this year Bottas will likely be WDC and will deserve it as much as Rosberg deserved 2016.

    3. So, Oconomo/BigJoe (we know it’s you), do you think that every single driver who raced in Formula 1 was terrible given that over two thirds of all victories ever in the history of the sport have come from the front row of the grid?

      Yes, what the past 70 years has shown is that a fast driver-car combination that tends to start on the front row is very likely to win the race – how exactly is that meant to be some sort of dramatic revelation?

  25. After watching an exciting, super dominant race victory, and record shattering performance by Lewis Hamilton, there is nothing better than coming into these forums for an evening of entertainment.

    Truly hilarious!!

    1. +92 Yes a fun time.
      Just for kicks, mostly because no one is going to drill down to the 145th entry in this list ….
      Mercedes is in the business of selling cars. The situation they are in now is that the impression is, they keep winning because they have the BEST driver. And yes they do.
      So how do you convince the motoring public you have the best engineers and designers.?
      You do as Frank Williams did several times, you replace the top driver.
      If they kept Bottas (or is that Bottles?) and brought in Russel, they would still win the WDC and likely the WCC. Job done, guess who builds the best car.? Imagine the PR windfall for giving a no-points kid a chance at the brass ring.
      Oh yes, and save a bundle too.

      1. And the reason they don’t do this? Maybe they know something we don’t!

      2. I don’t believe people think they are only winning because they have the best driver. In fact there are a group of reasonable non-partisan experts on here (so they tell us) who make it clear anyone can win in that car. Plus just about every other team tell us its the best car on the grid. And lets face it, it is.
        And yes Wolff has said (in response to the claims the second driver is not allowed to win) that it would not do any harm to the Mercedes brand if the team had achieved championships with a number of different drivers.
        In mitigation the reality is that Hamilton sells. Whether its cars, designer clothes, or F1.
        And the last thing Mercedes want is for Russell to arrive to early and have his career destroyed by being totally dominated by Hamilton. That’s the RB approach to driver progression

  26. Really nice track, much, much better than everything Tilke has ever done.

    The race would be better with softer tyres. The conservative selection made the strategies too straighforward and it became somewhat boring after the first laps because of it.

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