It was a thrilling start to the first-ever Formula 1 race at Port🌱imao, with ♛a wild first few laps that involved an appearance from Carlos Sainz at the very front as the Mercedes duo struggled to find heat in their tyres. 

However, this would not last for long as the Mercedes pair retook the lead, with Hamilton passing Bo🐓ttas and then cruising to the finish to take his 92nd win in the sport, making him F1’s record holder for most wins ever.&nbs𝔍p;

Here’s our winners & losers from the Portug𒐪uese GP…

Winner: Lewis Hamilton

Without a doubt the biggest winner of this weekend, Lewis is comfortably on the way to෴ his sevꦅenth world championship after his brilliant win in Portugal. 

A difficult first lap from the Brit allowed Valtteri Bottas to take t♊he lead before Sainz would overtake both, but this would only last for six laps as the Merced𒅌es drivers swept around the outside of the Spaniard. 

Bottas held off Hamilton until lap 20, when the 6-time world champion mounted an attack and passed the Finn along the start-finish straight before charging clear to open up a huge advantage, 🥃despite suffering from a cramp in the final few laps. 

Hamilton ܫfinished over 25 seco💛nds ahead of Bottas in the biggest winning margin of the season to move 77 points ahead of his teammate in the championship battle and edge ever closer to equalling Schumacher’s record of seven world titles, which he can now achieve in two races’ time.

Loser: Valtteri Bottas

Anothe꧅r one to forget for Valtteri Bottas as🔥 the chance to inflict a rare defeat on Hamilton slips by again.

After a strong start to the weekend by taking a clean sweep of all practice sessionℱs, Valtteri looked the man to beat 🗹ahead of qualifying. 

A m🐈is-step in his qualif🐓ying strategy saw Bottas miss out on pole position, earning himself a start on the dirty side of the grid. 

The Finn made up for an initial poor getaway by passing Verstappen and Hamilton witꦆh some bold driving. That was briefly swept aside by the fast-starting Carlos Sainz, before Bottas caught and overtook the Spaniard for the lead. 

Valtteri’s winning hopes would comꦜe crashing down as Hamilton hunted him d⛄own and swept by on the run to Turn 20, leaving the Finn with no pace whatsoever to keep in touch. 

Winner: Sergio Perez 

Sergio Perez was a man on a mission. 

A decent start for the Mexican was cut short after an inꦿcident with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen resulted in Perez spinning off the track and dropping to dead last. 

But what followed was an his incredible journey to the pointy end of the grid, with Perez moving as h🎃igh as fifth in his recovery drive.

He wa🌸s unlucky not to hold onto that position as the late-charging duo of Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz caught him, leaving Checo with a solid seventh place fi𒁃nish. 

It will be a crime i♔f Perez is left without a drive for nex✅t season after proving his worth once again in Portugal.

Loser: Alex Albon

On a weekend where Alex Albon nee𒁏ded to go well, sadly only the opposite💜 occurred. 

After qualifying sixth, Albon was always going to 🗹have a battle on his hands ♒to get close to his teammate Verstappen up in third. 

The start didn’t go to plan for th🥂e Anglo-Thai driver who was overtaken by both McLarens and Renaults after struggling to get off the line with low tyre temperat♛ures. 

From there, it we🌞nt from bad to worse. Albon dropped back to 11th, got stuck in the midfield train and suffered with issues with graining and💫 tyre wear. 

A weekend that Alex didn’t need, and one that certa𒀰inly places more pressure on the young driver as﷽ he heads to Imola to continue his fight for his future. 

Winner: Pierre Gasly

A contender for driv🌄er of the season has to be Pierre Gaslꩲy who continued his redemption streak with a brilliant race. 

After experiencing a fire in his AlphaTaur✤i during the Friday practice sessions and given a new chಌassis, Gasly was on the back foot for qualifying but was still able to take ninth.

In the race, Pierre proved untouchable, unlockin🅺g the magic on his Soft⭕ tyres to keep them alive and subsequently move to the front of the grid. 

After a mighty battle with Sergio Perez in the closing sta𓄧ges of the race, Gasly was able to take home a super fift🐼h place finish. 

Loser: Lance Stroll

Lance Stroll made a very rusty return tꦕo F1 in Portugal after missing the Eifel GP 📖due to illness, later to be revealed as Covid-19. 

The Canadian endured an ab🅘solute nightmare as he clashed with Max Verstappen at Turn 1 in second practice, before a near-ideꦿntical incident occurred in the race with a wild move on Lando Norris at the same corner. 

This resulted in a five-second time penalty for Stroll, w⛄hich was repeated when he was also penalised for repeated track limits offences. 

Stroll subsequently would retire from the race due to the damage suffered from the crash with Norris, ending a truly𝔍 terrible weekend for his side of the garage. 

A special shoutout must go to Kimi Raikkonen, who had a stunning first-lap that took him from 16th on the grid to 6th! Insane stuff from the Iceman. Other meꩲntions go to Charles Leclerc for a superb performance to convert his brilliant quali𓄧fying lap into a strong P4 finish and Renault, who strengthened its fifth-place in the constructors’ with a double-points haul.

Who was your biggest winner & loser from the Portuguese Grand Prix? Are you impressed with Lewis Hamilton breaking Michael Schumacher’s record? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, and don’t forget to like and subscribe to Crash F1.