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The Portuguese Grand Prix 2020 was the 12th round of the 2020 F1 season, and took place at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimão, Portugal, on October 25th.

Lewis Hamilton won the race from the pole, followed by Valtteri Bottas, and Max Verstappen completing the podium.

Final results

1
-
HAM
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
1:29:56.828
Finished
2
-
BOT
Valtteri Bottas
Mercedes
+25.592
Finished
3
-
VER
Max Verstappen
Red Bull
+34.508
Finished
4
-
LEC
Charles Leclerc
Ferrari
+1:05.312
Finished
5
4
GAS
Pierre Gasly
AlphaTauri
+1 Lap
6
1
SAI
Carlos Sainz
McLaren
+1 Lap
7
2
PER
Sergio Pérez
Racing Point
+1 Lap
8
3
OCO
Esteban Ocon
Renault
+1 Lap
9
1
RIC
Daniel Ricciardo
Renault
+1 Lap
10
5
VET
Sebastian Vettel
Ferrari
+1 Lap
11
5
RAI
Kimi Räikkönen
Alfa Romeo
+1 Lap
12
6
ALB
Alexander Albon
Red Bull
+1 Lap
13
5
NOR
Lando Norris
McLaren
+1 Lap
14
-
RUS
George Russell
Williams
+1 Lap
15
2
GIO
Antonio Giovinazzi
Alfa Romeo
+1 Lap
16
3
MAG
Kevin Magnussen
Haas F1 Team
+1 Lap
17
1
GRO
Romain Grosjean
Haas F1 Team
+1 Lap
18
2
LAT
Nicholas Latifi
Williams
+2 Laps
19
6
KVY
Daniil Kvyat
AlphaTauri
+2 Laps
20
8
STR
Lance Stroll
Racing Point
Collision damage
Show all

Race evolution

Pit Stops

0
1
PER
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
RAI
12
13
14
RIC
15
16
17
18
STR
NOR
19
ALB
20
21
22
23
VER
24
LAT
25
KVY
26
GRO
SAI
27
VET
28
GIO
GAS
29
30
31
MAG
32
33
34
STR
LEC
35
36
RUS
37
38
39
40
HAM
41
BOT
42
43
NOR
44
45
PER
46
ALB
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
OCO
54
55
KVY
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66

There were a total of 25 pit stops during the race.

The most popular pit stop windows were:

  • Laps 23-28: 8 stops

The fastest pit stop was Alexander Albon's, stopping the clock at 25.882 seconds during his pit stop on lap 46, while the slowest one was was Lance Stroll's, who stopped the clock at 37.483 seconds, 11.601 seconds slower than Albon, during his pit stop on lap 34.

These times include the time the driver spent going through the pit lane, as well as the actual time he stopped for the mechanics to work on his car.

Strategy

We saw a variety of options in terms of pit stop strategies during this race, however most drivers chose a 1 stop. Only Sergio Pérez, Lance Stroll, Lando Norris, Alexander Albon and Daniil Kvyat decided to try something different with a 2 stops strategy.

The race winner, Lewis Hamilton, was on a 1 stop strategy.

1 stop

  • 5
    Kimi Räikkönen
  • 1
    Daniel Ricciardo
  • -
    Max Verstappen
  • 2
    Nicholas Latifi
  • 1
    Romain Grosjean
  • 1
    Carlos Sainz
  • 5
    Sebastian Vettel
  • 2
    Antonio Giovinazzi
  • 4
    Pierre Gasly
  • 3
    Kevin Magnussen
  • -
    Charles Leclerc
  • -
    George Russell
  • -
    Lewis Hamilton
  • -
    Valtteri Bottas
  • 3
    Esteban Ocon

2 stops

  • 2
    Sergio Pérez
  • 8
    Lance Stroll
  • 5
    Lando Norris
  • 6
    Alexander Albon
  • 6
    Daniil Kvyat

Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 1.8 positions on average, while those on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 4.75 positions.

This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 1 stop strategy was the best option.

It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.

Incidents

There race went on mostly with no incidents. Only 1 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.

These included, .

Collision damage

  • Lance Stroll
    Lap 51

Qualifying

#1
STR
#2
OCO
#3
RIC
#4
GAS
#5
NOR
#6
SAI
#7
ALB
#8
PER
#9
LEC
#10
VER
#11
BOT
#12
HAM
#13
KVY
#14
RUS
#15
VET
#16
RAI
#17
GIO
#18
GRO
#19
MAG
#20
LAT

Lewis Hamilton managed to get the pole position by 0.102 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:16.652. Valtteri Bottas was right behind him, helping Mercedes score a one-two and monopolize the first line of the grid.

Q1

  • Lewis Hamilton
    1:16.828
  • Max Verstappen
    1:16.879
  • Valtteri Bottas
    1:16.945
  • Pierre Gasly
    1:17.209
  • Sergio Pérez
    1:17.370
  • Charles Leclerc
    1:17.421
  • Alexander Albon
    1:17.435
  • Sebastian Vettel
    1:17.446
  • Lando Norris
    1:17.547
  • Daniel Ricciardo
    1:17.621
  • Carlos Sainz
    1:17.627
  • Lance Stroll
    1:17.667
  • Esteban Ocon
    1:17.775
  • Daniil Kvyat
    1:17.841
  • George Russell
    1:17.931
  • Kimi Räikkönen
    1:18.201
  • Antonio Giovinazzi
    1:18.323
  • Romain Grosjean
    1:18.364
  • Kevin Magnussen
    1:18.508
  • Nicholas Latifi
    1:18.777

Q2

  • Valtteri Bottas
    1:16.466
  • Lewis Hamilton
    1:16.824
  • Max Verstappen
    1:17.038
  • Sergio Pérez
    1:17.129
  • Carlos Sainz
    1:17.183
  • Lando Norris
    1:17.321
  • Pierre Gasly
    1:17.367
  • Charles Leclerc
    1:17.367
  • Alexander Albon
    1:17.411
  • Daniel Ricciardo
    1:17.481
  • Esteban Ocon
    1:17.614
  • Lance Stroll
    1:17.626
  • Daniil Kvyat
    1:17.728
  • George Russell
    1:17.788
  • Sebastian Vettel
    1:17.919

Q3

  • Lewis Hamilton
    1:16.652
  • Valtteri Bottas
    1:16.754
  • Max Verstappen
    1:16.904
  • Charles Leclerc
    1:17.090
  • Sergio Pérez
    1:17.223
  • Alexander Albon
    1:17.437
  • Carlos Sainz
    1:17.520
  • Lando Norris
    1:17.525
  • Pierre Gasly
    1:17.803

Track evolution

Q1
-0.085
seconds faster
Q2
0.089
seconds slower
Q3

As the qualifying session went on, with the track rubbering in, and the drivers testing the limits of the grip of their cars, the times per lap dropped, and 12 out of the 15 drivers that took place in Q2 were able to improve their times.

The Q3 is the time were all the remaining drivers put all their cards on the table, even those with a superior car who might have been managing their times in Q1 and Q2 push their cars to the limit in Q3. That being said, the changing conditions of the track made it difficult to find these limits, and only 3 drivers were able to improve their Q2 times.