Hamilton brushes off Verstappen and hits back

In the wind lottery in the Algarve, Mercedes star Hamilton extended his lead in the overall standings with the 97th Grand Prix success of his career. Challenger Max Verstappen had to settle for second place despite a strong drive. Third came Valtteri Bottas, who was unable to maintain his pole position in the unexciting race.

The World Cup, however, will continue to be characterized by the duel between Hamilton and Verstappen, who, like in Bahrain and Imola, fought out victory among themselves. Before the trip to the Spanish race next Sunday, the British defending champion is now eight points ahead of the Dutchman with 69 points. The winner's podium in Portimao: Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas. © APA/afp / PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA

Verstappen showed the first maneuver worth seeing right at the beginning. Following a safety car phase, which was necessary after Kimi Räikkönen's retirement in the Alfa Romeo on lap one, the youngster raced past Hamilton from the slipstream at the restart. Four laps later, the Brit took revenge and was second again. Bottas has to let Hamilton and Verstappen go At the front, pole-setter Bottas initially had a clear path because Hamilton was unable to launch an attack immediately. Finally he passed the Finn. As in the previous year, the slippery asphalt and extreme wind caused some problems for the pilots. Nevertheless, Hamilton confidently held the lead with the fastest times, while Bottas had to defend himself against Imola winner Verstappen.

With 30 laps to go, Verstappen was the first of the trio at the front to switch from the medium to the hard tire compound - and was rewarded. The title contender was able to dupe Bottas shortly after his stop and once again went after Hamilton. However, this was not successful. The top 10 in Portimao.

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Hamilton brushes off Verstappen and hits back

The fight for the world title in Formula 1 developed into a duel early on. Starring: Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. After the Dutchman had recently been ahead, defending champion Hamilton struck back on Sunday in Portimao.

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