Hamilton breaks the all-time win record, Mercedes power wins in Portugal for the first time and Gasly records another top five finish. Here are all the facts and statistics from the 2020 Portuguese Grand Prix!
A RECORD BREAKING WIN
Lewis Hamilton won the 2020 Portuguese Grand Prix and recorded his 92nd victory, breaking Michael Schumacher’s former record of 91 Grand Prix wins. Hamilton becomes the eighth different driver to have held the outright record for all-time wins. He is the second driver to set a new record for most F1 wins in Portugal; Alain Prost took a then record-breaking 28th win at the 1987 Portuguese Grand Prix.
Michael Schumacher held the outright record for most F1 wins for 6,993 days, since the 2001 Belgian Grand Prix, which is a record for the longest amount of time a driver has had the most F1 wins. Lewis Hamilton will need to hold the record until at least 18th December, 2039 to eclipse Schumacher’s record run.
Lewis Hamilton is the twelfth different driver to win the Portuguese Grand Prix from the seventeen times it has appeared on the F1 calendar. It was the eighth win for a British driver at the event. The Algarve International Circuit is the 28th different circuit at which Hamilton has won, extending the record for most number of circuits where a driver has taken victory.
Hamilton won the 2020 Portuguese Grand Prix by 25.592 seconds, which is the largest winning margin since Nico Rosberg’s victory at the 2016 Chinese Grand Prix. It’s the third biggest win margin of Hamilton’s career, after the 2008 British Grand Prix and the 2014 British Grand Prix.
Hamilton’s victory is the first time that a Mercedes-powered car has won the Portuguese Grand Prix. They are the eighth different engine manufacturer to be victorious in the country, and Mercedes become the eighth different team to have won the Portuguese Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes both set a new record for the largest points leads held after a Portuguese Grand Prix, though this perhaps isn’t surprising given the increase in points awarded since F1 last visited Portugal in 1996.
ON THE PODIUM
Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen finished in the top three together for the twelfth time. Next time they do it, they’ll become the equal second most common podium trio in F1 history, tying with Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber.
The top three finished in the order in which they started at the 2020 Portuguese Grand Prix. It’s only the second time it has happened in Portugal, the other time being in 1958. The 1958 Portuguese Grand Prix marked only the second time it had occurred in F1 history, while the 2020 race marked the 56th time it has happened.
With his 54th podium finish, Valtteri Bottas has equalled Niki Lauda’s career tally of top three finishes. He now sits thirteenth in the all-time list of most podiums, alongside the Austrian.
Bottas is the second Finnish driver to record a podium finish at the Portuguese Grand Prix. The only other top three finish for a Finn in the country was for Mika Hakkinen, who finished third in 1994.
In the last fifteen races, Max Verstappen has recorded three retirements. He has finished on the podium at every other race. The 2020 Portuguese Grand Prix marked Verstappen’s 40th podium finish, making him only the 23rd driver to reach that milestone.
Verstappen became the first Dutch driver to finish on the podium at the Portuguese Grand Prix, making the Netherlands the fourteenth nation to have finished in the top three at the event.
THE TOP TEN
Charles Leclerc finished fourth in the Portuguese Grand Prix, recording his best result since also finishing fourth in the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix.
Pierre Gasly finished the race in fifth place, making this the ninth consecutive race in which AlphaTauri have scored points. That extends the team’s best streak of points scoring races in their entire history. This is the 24th time that this team has finished in the top five since joining the sport as Minardi in 1985. Minardi recorded ten top five finishes, Toro Rosso finished in the top five on twelve occasions and Gasly has recorded both of AlphaTauri’s top five results so far.
Despite being last after the opening lap, Sergio Perez finished the 2020 Portuguese Grand Prix in seventh place. He maintains his record of finishing in the points in every race which he has started this season. Aside from his DNF at the 2019 Singapore Grand Prix, Perez has scored in every race in which he has competed since the 2019 Belgian Grand Prix.
Carlos Sainz led four of the opening five laps of the Portuguese Grand Prix. It’s the first time that he has led multiple laps of a race, having previously led a single lap at the 2020 Italian Grand Prix.
Sebastian Vettel finished the 2020 Portuguese Grand Prix in tenth place, scoring for the first time since the Tuscan Grand Prix. In the last six races, Vettel has scored two points.
Esteban Ocon finished one place ahead of his team-mate in eighth place. It’s only the second time this year that Ocon has finished ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in a race in which both reached the chequered flag. Ocon started eleventh, which is the only grid slot yet to record a retirement in 2020.
THE OTHER FINISHERS
Alex Albon finished the race in twelfth place. Having retired from the Eifel Grand Prix, this marks the first time that Albon has failed to score at two consecutive races during his time at Red Bull.
George Russell and Nicholas Latifi finished outside the points for Williams. The team won all of the last three Portuguese Grands Prix. 2020 marks only the second time that Williams have failed to win the Portuguese Grand Prix in the last 30 years.
THE ONLY RETIREE
Lance Stroll was the only retirement from the 2020 Portuguese Grand Prix. His third place at the Italian Grand Prix remains the last time he finished a race.
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