Race Highlights | 2021 Portuguese Grand Prix

And it's lights out and away we go. Bottas and Hamilton both getting away well. Pérez not the best start and he's already got the Ferrari alongside him and ahead as Bottas goes into Turn 1 in the lead. From Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, then comes Carlos Sainz and Sergio Pérez. Behind them, Lando Norris is ahead of Esteban Ocon. Also on the soft tyre for the McLaren runner. And they're just finding their way around Turn 3. No contact so far. Bottas getting away well. Pérez definitely struggling for grip there with the medium compound tyre coming at him. Under braking. Watch Esteban Ocon caught at the inside of Lando Norris. There's a big lock up there. I think it might have been his teammate, Fernando Alonso. Look at that. That's a decent lead from Valtteri Bottas, isn't it? And Max Verstappen, I think, will be quite pleased to have at least just be hanging on. But Lando Norris charging around the outside of Turn 11. And the left-hander of 12 gives him the high ground. Oh, go Lando! What a move from Lando Norris. Daniel Ricciardo is up into 14th ahead of Fernando Alonso. And someone's made contact. And there is Kimi Räikkönen, who has lost half of his front wing going down the main straight. I wonder if we're going to need some kind of safety car for that, especially if he buries it in the gravel. He has taken the car to a service road. Full safety car. And up against his teammate. It's almost like he got such a slipstream. There's no DRS involved. So he got such a slipstream from his teammate. It looks like it caught him out. And he's got the jump then on Hamilton and Verstappen behind him. Through the heat haze come 19 Formula 1 cars. Hamilton trying to pull out of the slipstream. Max Verstappen's getting behind him. Verstappen goes into Turn 1 ahead of Hamilton. Got a little bit squirrelly on the exit of Turn 1. But that was a great move by Max Verstappen. He's up into second place. Sergio Perez is now behind Lewis Hamilton, ahead of Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz and Esteban Ocon. Verstappen was fine for track limits, but Hamilton was even further off the track anyway. So don't imagine that's going to be a problem. There goes Lando Norris down the inside. There's a lock-up from Carlos Sainz. That might give Charles Leclerc a chance to get past his teammate in a moment. But Lando Norris is up into fourth place ahead of Sergio Perez. Sainz sixth, Leclerc seventh, ahead of Esteban Ocon, who's not had the best start. He lost one place because now he's back ahead of Leclerc, according to that timing screen. And there, down the inside, he's going for it again as the door is firmly slammed shut by Charles Leclerc. Oh, getting all out of shape there. Max Verstappen coming out of Turn 14. Is that going to give Lewis Hamilton a little bit of impetus? I wonder, because Hamilton is within striking distance of the Red Bull down the straight. Bottas continues to lead. Then we're on lap 11 of 66. Here comes Hamilton on Max Verstappen. Hamilton retakes that second place ahead of the Red Bull. And that move started all the way back at Turn 14 as Verstappen tries to fight it into Turn 4. Hamilton just stays ahead. What are we going to see now? Perez on Norris. Nice move. Vettel has been putting in as good a lap times as he possibly can, but can he keep Ricciardo at bay here? Ricciardo's going to go around the outside, isn't he? With DRS assistance into Turn 1 and into the points as well. We ride on board with Lewis Hamilton. But let's see how much he's going to be staring and how much he's going to be gaining down the main straight here. The gap was eight tenths of a second at the end of the last lap. It's half a second as they cross the line now. Hamilton's got DRS. He's within touching distance of his teammate. He's ahead of his teammate. Lewis Hamilton goes around the outside of Valtteri Bottas. And wow, what another good move that was from the world champion. So Valtteri's really gone heavily right, look. So he's pinched himself into Turn 1. And Lewis has just played the angles and steamed around the outside. Red Bull are going to pull the trigger and take the gamble with Max Verstappen and make the first pit stop of the top three runners. Verstappen is boxing. Pick up the pace. It needs to be two seconds to give Valtteri a real fighting chance. That's sweet. That's not so bad. What's the time, Crofty, as it comes up? 3.3 seconds. Oh, I'm not sure. Bottas should stay out in front here, although Verstappen is gaining on him very, very swiftly. But it was enough of a gap that Bottas had over Verstappen to get into the pits and out ahead. Question now, Martin Brondle, on colder tyres, can he stay ahead? This is his moment. Look at that. Sliding like crazy is Valtteri Bottas, trying to get the power down. And immediately then, Verstappen has a run at the inside, down into Turn 5. He's got all the track position he needs. Now he will just finish the job off. And that all started when Bottas lit up the rear axle and Max just came up the inside of him with more confidence, more knowledge, more tyre temperature. Esteban Ocon has been closing on Carlos Sainz, enjoying that resilient hard compound tyre. And this is how he made the move. Here comes Fernando Alonso. He's got DRS on Daniel Ricciardo. Down the main straight we go. Alonso moves past and round the outside of Ricciardo and into 9th. He does. Two points. You've got Mick Schumacher closing in on Nicolas Latifi. And here comes Fernando. One-two tap-ass and he's through. As Pierre Gasly gets past Carlos Sainz and will pick up a point for doing so. There it is for Bottas then. A 1.19.8. What can Max do on the final tour? And now Verstappen's the fastest man in the first sector of anybody for the entire Grand Prix. First three Portuguese Grands Prix won by Racing Knights. And Sir Lewis Hamilton's been night and day ahead of the rest here in Portimao this afternoon. He wins the Portuguese Grand Prix. Max Verstappen is battling for the fastest lap of the race to add to the 18 points that he's going to pick up for second place. Hamilton will increase his lead at the top of the championship. Whatever happens on this lap for Max Verstappen. Red Bull just did not have the pace in the second half of this race to challenge Mercedes today. Verstappen comes home for second place and takes the fastest lap as well. So it's 19 points for Max Verstappen. And Valtteri Bottas will come home to take the third place on the podium. It was Verstappen within the red and white kerb in Turn 14. And yes, Verstappen's time is deleted for track limits. Mercedes will get the point for a fastest lap with Valtteri Bottas. Red Bull will think, right, what do we now need to do to beat Mercedes? And Mercedes will think, what do we need to do to stay ahead of Red Bull? And they haven't got much thinking time. We're off to Barcelona in just a few days. It was certainly Mercedes' day here in the Algarve at the Portuguese Grand Prix.