By Robert Haile

The Formula 1 season has taken an ominous turn as Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won the Portuguese Grand Prix today, May 2.

After the race Hamilton said: “That was such a tough race, physically and mentally, just keeping everything together. It was very windy out there, obviously, so it was easy to put a foot wrong. I didn’t quite get as good a start as Valtteri, then lost out on the restart which was not good.

“I was not happy about that, naturally. But that race was satisfying, when you’re in third and have to overtake two amazing drivers – amazing. Having races like that is what I live for.

“The gap between us all is so close and every single point is going to count this year. I love the battle, I’ve loved it since my days in karting and as a team, we can’t leave any stone unturned – we’ve got to continue to push this car, squeeze everything out of it.”

Starting from second after teammate Valtteri Bottas beat him to his 100th career pole, Hamilton had it all to do after dropping to third.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen made the most of a Safety Car after Kimi Räikkönen collided with the rear of fellow Alfa Romeo driver Antonio Giovinazzi, to overtake Hamilton.

This wasn’t the case for long as four laps later Verstappen was back in third and by the 20th lap Hamilton was leading and on his way to his 97th Grand Prix victory.

While Hamilton’s lead in the Drivers Championship extended it was only by eight points after Verstappen finished second with Bottas finishing third with a fastest lap bonus point.

Sergio Perez continued his development for Red Bull after qualifying in fourth he finished there picking up valuable points for the Constructors Championship but not yet helping to take on Mercedes with Verstappen.

McLaren driver Lando Norris finished fifth ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc with Esteban Ocon beating Alpine teammate Fernando Alonso to seventh.

Daniel Ricciardo gained seven places to finish ninth for McLaren as Pierre Gasly gained the last points scoring position for AlphaTauri with a late overtake on Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.

Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi finished twelfth with Aston Martin drivers Sebastian Vettel finishing ahead of Lance Stroll.

AlphaTauri rookie Yuki Tsunoda took fifteenth as George Russell Williams beat Mick Schumacher for Haas and Williams Nicholas Latifi finished eighteenth ahead of Nikita Mazepin’s Haas.

Round four takes place in Spain over May 7 to May 9 with the Aramco Gran Premio De España.