Start, Autodromo do Algarve, 2020

Rate the race: 2020 Portuguese Grand Prix

2020 Portuguese Grand Prix

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What did you think of today’s race? Share your verdict on the Portuguese Grand Prix.

RaceFans has held polls on every F1 race since 2008 to find out which fans thought of each round of the season.

Join in the latest poll and give your verdict on the race: 10 being the highest and 1 the lowest. Please vote based on how entertaining and exciting you thought the race was, not on how your preferred driver or team performed.

What were the best and worst moments of the race? What was the main thing you’ll remember about it? Rate the race out of ten and leave a comment below:

Rate the 2020 Portuguese Grand Prix out of 10

  • 10 (5%)
  • 9 (11%)
  • 8 (31%)
  • 7 (26%)
  • 6 (13%)
  • 5 (7%)
  • 4 (2%)
  • 3 (2%)
  • 2 (1%)
  • 1 (1%)

Total Voters: 245

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1 = ‘Terrible’, 10 = ‘Perfect’

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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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77 comments on “Rate the race: 2020 Portuguese Grand Prix”

  1. Entertaining

  2. Otmar Szafnauer giving a strident defence of the bosses son, even when he was so obviously in the wrong was my highlight.

    1. petebaldwin (@)
      25th October 2020, 14:55

      Made me laugh how at the start he said Verstappen should get a penalty and then when it was his driver, suddenly “no – a penalty is harsh.”

    2. He wasnt so obviously in the wrong and you know it. 50/50 at best, and i feel norris was in the wrong, as he could see stroll flying past him and chose to connect instead of cede.

      1. I don’t recall seeing the onboard from Norris. Hopefully it will be included in the race highlights compilation later. It sure looked a little wild onboard with Lance!

      2. Stroll cut Norris off by darting across whilst not having cleared the car he passed. That’s quite a dumb thing to do and he got a penalty for it. He also embarrassed himself even further by getting a penalty for exceeding track limits too many times. Stroll should take a long hard look in the mirror imho.

    3. @davids Yeah and also retiring the boss’s son because they wanted to prevent him from embarrassing himself again by spinning out…. Those were his literal words. Astonishing really.

      Meanwhile Perez, despite being in last place after T1, drove a great race for them and he is the one getting dropped…

      1. It’s a sad state isn’t it. The talk about williams dropping Russell while he’s the only remote chance of scoring points just seems absurd.

    4. I actually agree, racing incident.

    5. Gave it 8…and think we saw history being made with Lewis….and his all time race victories.
      Plenty going on…Perez was outstanding for his team( how they can let him go over a truly poor team mate even allowing for family ties)….and similar is Gasly, who looks like a star driver, but cannot get promoted…
      Good racing from all teams today, and I quite liked the track

  3. An exciting race, a good track.

  4. Rain, DRS, tyres. This is the best possible F1 can put on.

    1. Sadly, I think you are correct.
      I give it a 4.

    2. Without DRS it would have been pretty good.
      Watching people just drive past on the straight yet again and still they think it’s a good idea.

    3. Was it really interesting, apart from the first 3 laps?

  5. First race I can remember I actually got up and did something else while it was on instead of watching it closely. I’m sure it’s great for people that are enjoying it but I found it quite dull.

    1. After the first 5 laps, it was mostly dull.

      1. what?
        a lot was happening on track, I really liked it.
        both Mercedes and Verstappen nog quick in the 1st laps… later recovering.. Hamilton overtaking Bottas for the lead..
        a lot of midfield battles, Raikkonen who drove very well, had good battles
        Gasly, Perez, Sainz, very good race

        1. @johnever it’s because a lot of fans don’t like DRS & don’t enjoy it when DRS is as powerful as it was today.

          You could say ‘a lot was happening’ in terms of passing but it was mostly not that interesting to watch due to the push of a button nature of DRS today. A race like that will for me never be that entertaining to watch as that is the sort of ‘racing’ (If you can even call it that) I really cannot stand & many other fans feel the same with regards to the Dumb Racing System which has never been popular in any poll that has been conducted the past decade.

          If others enjoy watching boringly easy button press highway passing then fine but I certainly do not & never will!

          DRS is the primary reason I simply did not enjoy today’s race all that much & the primary reason I don’t like F1 as much today as I did a decade ago before the artificial gimmicks started to be forced onto us.

          1. Yeah, DRS was the biggest issue. Most of the overtakes were done before the braking zone, and many were done before the start line.
            Apart from that, there just wasn’t a lot going on. There was painfully little unpredictability (as usual) and everyone was just driving around at 70% pace conserving tyres – even though the tyres were far too hard and lasted way too long. Perez stopped for his only tyre change on Lap 1, for goodness sake.

            As I said, the rain at the start was good; drivers could show their skills – but then it dried and it turned out exactly how most of us expected it to be.
            A very typical F1 event – nothing special.

          2. As I have been trying to say for a long time. It would be better if drs shut off once the cars drew alongside each other. Or within a tenth

    2. I agree. Went to do other stuff multiple times. First 3 laps were great, then nothung happened. I was almost hoping for a Masi enduced Safetycar

  6. Excellent race, brilliant performance from Hamilton, absolutely demolishing Bottas in the race and becoming Formula 1’s record breaking winner in the process. Superb.

    1. I’ll second that. A bad day for the Anti Lewis brigade! Hope you enjoyed that Bondo 😀
      Lewis Carl Hamilton world record holder. We knew he was special from that very first race in Australia 07 but I didn’t think anyone would reach Schumachers 91 victories. 7 WDCs I thought was maybe achievable from somebody but 92 wins? No way. I can only speak for myself but Lewis, you have made this Englishman very proud. GET IN!!! 🇬🇧

  7. Pretty good by 2020 standards, gave it a 7. There were different fights throughout the field at every point of the race so always something to keep an eye on.

    1. Oh and also just to add to that, for me that was probably the most exciting opening couple of laps we had this season. And no safety car!

      1. Yes, and 19 cars finished the race, which is also good. I was wondering if this was going to be another one of those races where all the cars that started completed the race too, but it wasn’t to be. Nevertheless it was great to see so few collisions.

  8. Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
    25th October 2020, 14:51

    4. Threatened to be interesting at the start. Roll on the Indycar decider.

  9. The first 3 laps were good, past that, I could have missed it and not cared… So much build up and potential as one of those “wild” races where anything happens, but nope, just the usual fare.

  10. 5/10.

    DRS was far too powerful & when it’s like that it always takes away from my enjoyment as I just don’t find those easy push of a button style passes to be that exciting at all.

    The opening couple laps were fun with the rain but as soon as DRS got switched on drivers like Sainz & Raikkonen who had driven brilliantly to move towards the front just got DRS’d & from there it became a DRS-fest which as I say I just don’t find that fun.

    1. All these changes due to Covid and still those in charge are not bright enough to try a single race without DRS.

  11. The furst half was great. the second half completely fizzled out as the teams realised the tyres could last longer than first thought in first 1 laps, which jelped slow drivers like ocon to beat ricciardo by 0.6 seconds. 2 stops would have made the race perfect.

    1. Yes. Spelling mistakes

      1. phonetically it ol wurques aut.

    2. It really seemed like a guaranteed 2 stopper earlier on in the race but it turned around rather quickly. I was disappointed by Mercedes refusing to give bottas the softs at his stop but after seeing everyone else struggling on it, it sure proved to be the right decision!

      1. I’m wondering if it would have been better for Valtteri to not renew his contract with Mercedes and sign up with a different team for next year. Yes, the opportunity to win races will disappear, but the work required to consistently beat Lewis seems to be beyond him. I felt much the same when Rubens Barrichello signed a second time with Ferrari. I felt it wasn’t worth the extra money and the prestige of being on the podium beside Michael.

  12. Very much enjoyed that race! Lots of nice battles and overtakes

  13. In ideal world, this would immediately become the permanent addition to the calendar. But hey, we’ve got Saudi Arabia, Barcelona and Paul Ricard on the plate for next year, so who wouldn’t be excited?

  14. Absolutely love this circuit – well done Portimão.
    If only the DRS section was a bit shorter (or better even, no need for DRS) then this can create epic races.

    1. Montréalais (@)
      25th October 2020, 17:53

      @coldfly Agree 100%

  15. This race was decent, but we missed out on what could have been a classic due to ridiculously overpowered DRS. One of the most exciting opening laps I can remember, but sadly track position didn’t count for anything since a faster car within 1 second was a guaranteed overtake – resulting in all the cars inevitably finding themselves in order of pace by the end. Also sad to see that the Q2 tyre rule continues to penalise some of the better qualifiers in the midfield, though some still managed to get themselves into good positions by the end.

  16. I quite enjoyed that one. I think it would have been better without DRS here at all. I think it deprived us of more wheel to wheel racing through sector 1 like we saw with Raikkonen and sainz. Another race that showed Lewis is the full package. There’s not really weaknesses to speak of. Even when he’s on the back foot he seems to find a way to turn it around.

  17. Suprised by peoples low votes. It was great, DRS was too effective but the racing was entertaining, watching the midfield race was a joy, the circuit was briliant, proper old school and also, if it wasn’t for Leclerc then Gasly’s form would be causing ferrari some real problems.

    1. @broke84

      It was great, DRS was too effective

      It gets low voted because many fans simply do not enjoy DRS been that effective because DRS highway passing isn’t fun, it isn’t exciting & it isn’t entertaining to watch.

      Races that are boring drs highway passing fests always get low votes because they are simply not fun to watch.

      Horrible artificial gimmick that ruins more races than it helps.

      1. It gets low votes because “some” donot like Lewis winning.

        1. I don’t like it when Hamilton cruises to victory..
          But he had to work for this victory, and after passing Bottas, he showed who was the best Mercedes driver, by far…
          Enjoyable race, yes with a lot of DRS passes, but also wheel to wheel battles for multiple corners..
          I gave it a 9, I thought more people would like it like I did

      2. @roger-ayles yes, and I mention DRS in my comment, I hate it too but it has been around for years, rate the race, not rate the DRS.

        1. @broke84

          rate the race, not rate the DRS.

          I do rate the race but DRS plays into my overall enjoyment of a race.

          I just don’t enjoy the sort of easy push of a button highway passing we saw far too much of today & as a result when DRS is working like that it takes me out of the race & takes down my overall enjoyment a lot. If DRS is directly impacting on my enjoyment i’m not going to just discount it.

        2. @broke84 It’s impossible to completely separate the two though. DRS is an integral part to the race. Sometimes it works to make it better, sometimes worse. Today I completely agree that DRS had a significant negative impact on the race, and that contributes to the race getting lower scores.

  18. petebaldwin (@)
    25th October 2020, 14:58

    Great F1.5 race. Lots of battles but getting a bit fed up with the Verstappen dominance. Can anyone challenge him!?

  19. It wasnt a borefest by any standards. But it is very tough to digest the fact that the leader 16 cars !! It isnt a rarity in F1 by i think this is the second time this is happening this season.
    Excellent track nonetheless; lot of close battles.
    I was generous with a 6/10

  20. i gave it 4/10 primarily because of how powerful DRS was. I totally tuned out the mid part of the race because of the highway passing. do not enjoy seeing that at all.

    99% of all the passing today was made too easy because of the rubbish artificial gimmick so i just did not find it to be that enjoyable to watch at all. once again f1 ruined by an awful gimmick :(

    Quantity over quality will never be good & today proved it.

  21. Blaize Falconberger (@)
    25th October 2020, 15:01

    Enjoyed that… 7/10… lots of overtakes and drama with the tyres. Disappointed in Bottas going backwards… But there were lots of goings on down the field.

  22. I think this is my new favourite F1 track. I absolutely love it and I want it to stay!

    #PortugalRacesMatter

    1. <>
      If “we” can travel, I’d go …

  23. Thought DRS was too strong and that took my overall enjoyment down a few points so i’ll rate it a 6.

  24. Another mugello, another track that proved doubters wrong. Brundle really wanted to dislike the track, perhaps because he never drove it and all his co-workers love it. He bad mouthed the drains, the stewards (couldn’t have done better) the first corner layout selection, he said there would be no overtaking then he said drs was too strong, as it obviously was all along, found fault on the pit entry, (which is fine), rightfuly complained about the exit, finished up complaining about overall pit time and the overall length of the track. Grumpy, just bad character. 8/10.

  25. I gave it a 7, 2 points too high.
    1 is for the first 3 laps, even though my hopes turned to dust soon.

    Another point is for me, I’ve managed watching the whole race without taking any breaks, which seems getting harder to do for last few years. Single driver/team domination gets boring after a while, no matter how great said driver/team is….

  26. At first it felt like I had tuned into an F1 race but an F2 race broke out. Unfortunately, after about lap 5, it went back to being an F1 race.

  27. The fact a boring DRS fest like that gets so many high votes shows how far f1 has fallen & how many modern fans have fallen for the quantity over quality gimmick driven nascar approach.

    To me that was everything I dislike about the modern artificial gimmick trend of quantity over quality.

    yes it will look good in the stat books to have a high passing figure but when 99% of the passes were utterly devoid of any interest or excitement thanks to been too easy thanks to a gimmick it should not be looked at as been good because it was not good. it was a highway pass show of low quality button push passes that were devoid of interest or skill.

    horrible race for fans of proper racing and genuine, exciting real overtaking!

    1. petebaldwin (@)
      25th October 2020, 15:45

      Yeah but we’re asked to rate an F1 race. As an F1 race, I’d give it A 7 or 8. As a motorsports race, sure, a 4 would be generous.

      This is modern day F1 though – luckily there’s a bunch of other great options! 👍

      1. @petebaldwin
        So the bar needs to be set much lower for F1?
        A mediocre race in any other series is a stunner in F1….

        What did you score Hockenheim last year? 37/10?

    2. János Henkelmann
      25th October 2020, 21:50

      Amen, couldn’t agree more!

      If the German GP last year was a 10 (which it certainly was) how can this be a 7 or 8???

  28. F1 always talks about overtakes and we get penty of those occationally. Still a lot of those can be rather dull. What really makes racing exciting is good close-fought battles and today we actually got some of those. Perez-Ocon was excellent, as was Raikkonen-Sainz.

    We need closer competition at the front, and to get rid of DRS but overall it was a pretty solid race I thought. 7/10. Also talk about excellent performances.. Hamilton, Leclerc, Gasly, even Kimi was top notch.

  29. It’s always the same Top 3 result.

  30. I liked the DRS overtaking. If it were up to me I’d make them have the DRS open for the whole lap. Then there’d be overtaking everywhere.

  31. Mediocre. There was less tyre saving than i tought and the start was exciting. After that it became a DRS filled procession with some minor fights that were good

  32. Good race in one of the better circuits of the world.

  33. Better than I expected, meaning it was somewhat entertaining. The rain spiced things up and we had a nice midfield scrap. But as usual, once the first few laps of madness were over, we had the usual Hamilton-Bottas-Verstappen order, and superoverpowered DRS overtakes.

  34. I gave it a 6. It had a few interesting moments, but nobody could touch those Mercedes’. The track is brilliant – DRS needs to be reduced (or just completely removed, forever).

  35. gave it an 8 altough the race was ruined by DRS (more than usual) and should deserve a 2 to convey the point.

  36. Gave it a 3.
    I actually fell asleep on the penultimate lap…

    DRS ruined an otherwise promising race.

  37. János Henkelmann
    25th October 2020, 21:47

    How can anyone give this an 8?

    The first 3 laps would be 9/10 but the rest of the race was just dull.

    How will people rate the races of the future when we get MotoGP or IndyCar like racing in F1 again, 15/10???

  38. János Henkelmann
    25th October 2020, 21:54

    If this was boring for someone like me and most of you who has been watching F1 for more than 20 years, just imagine how boring it must have been for a newbie!

    F1 has to up its game fast and if the 2022 regulations fail to provide good racing, I’m afraid the future of our favorite sport looks very dark!

  39. I have this an 8 possibly a little generously.

    Really liked the circuit. It looked challenging to drive and loved the undulating nature of it. I think it’s arguable that DRS was not needed at all here. So very different to most tracks.

    First half of the race was pretty exciting but if tailed off quite a lot from there. Predicable at the front but there were really good drives in the mid-field i.e. Perez, Gasly and Sainz.

    The fact that Racing Point are dropping Perez and keeping Stroll must be secretly making them the laughing stock of F1.

  40. John Lancashire
    27th October 2020, 16:55

    Terrific place to watch a race. At Silverstone you spend so much time focused on the big screens, because you don’t get a great view of much of the track. From where I was sitting you could see cars from turns 9-13, plus braking and accelerating for the hairpin (turn 5) although not the turn itself. Being able to see so much, really made things like Hamilton’s lead increasing very interesting and excellent to be able to watch Perez’s recovery. Great spectator venue.

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