“That was such a tough race”– Lewis Hamilton analyses his victory in Portimao

“That was such a tough race”– Lewis Hamilton wins the Portuguese Grand Prix but claims that it was a hard-earned victory.

The Portuguese Grand Prix started on an exciting note, with multiple position shuffling between Mercedes and Red Bull till lap 10, but soon it became a bit tiring to the eyes.

However, in the end, the competition energized with Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen wanted to aim for the fastest lap point. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton was clear for the victory.

Though, the Briton claims that the victory was tough to achieve, as there was a constant threat to his position, and also the winds made it harder for him.

“I’m telling you, that was such a tough race!” says Lewis. “Physically and mentally just keeping everything together. It was very windy out there so it was very easy to put a foot wrong.”

“I just didn’t quite get as good a start as Valtteri and then lost out on the restart [to Verstappen] which was not good. I was not happy about that, naturally.”

“I really had to position myself the best I could and, I can’t remember, but I think Max made a mistake at some point through the lap which was like perfect and I knew that was going to be the lap that Id be the close that I could to him in the last sector.”

“Then with Valtteri, I had to make the move early on before the tyres were destroyed and managed to just get him in Turn One. Right on the limit, but great race.”

Red Bull’s comedy of errors

There is nothing else to blame for Red Bulle except for the errors made by their drivers. Sergio Perez had an underwhelming start and was being overpowered by Carlos Sainz.

He had a decent end, as he bagged P4 for Red Bull. Meanwhile, in the initial phase of the race, Verstappen easily conceded his lead, and all lost a point for the fastest lap, as his lap timing was deleted because of violating the track limit.

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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