F1: Hamilton surpasses Schumacher with victory at Portuguese Grand Prix – as it happened

So Lewis Hamilton takes Michael Schumacher’s astonishing record of F1 race wins, and will leave Portugal offering little prospect of anyone getting near it for the forseeable future, or derailing his hopes of joining the German on seven world championship titles. Here’s the updated list …

Most F1 race wins
1 Lewis Hamilton – 92
2 Michael Schumacher – 91
3 Sebastian Vettel – 53
4 Alain Prost – 51
5 Ayrton Senna – 41
6 Fernando Alonso – 32
7 Nigel Mansell – 31
8 Jackie Stewart – 27
=9 Jim Clark – 25
=9 Niki Lauda – 25

And finally, here’s Giles Richards’s report from the circuit. Thanks for joining us and enjoy the rest of your weekend. Bye!

Victory at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve means Hamilton has now, incredibly, finished in the points at 45 races in a row. Testimony not just to his own skill but the dominance in reliability terms that Mercedes offer compared to their rivals. His last failure to finish was at the Austrian Grand Prix in July 2018.

Lap 66/66: Hamilton goes into the lap 25 seconds in the lead. Bottas second, with 7.5secs in hand. Verstappen remains safe in third. It will take tremendous late drama to stop that being the podium.

Lap 65/66: Gasly goes fifth! He refuses to settle for sixth, swings wide and away, and suddenly Sainz has a whiff of blood too.

Lap 62/66: Perez, on soft tyres, climbs all over Gasly as they fight for fifth. Very dicey stuff given the relative lack of grip so late in the race.

Lap 61/66: Drizzle alert! It may take something more substantial than that to upset the applecart, but it’s a late additional reminder to the drivers to keep their focus. Hamilton is 22 seconds clear, with history beckoning.

Lap 60/66: Hamilton’s sluggish start feels a long, long time ago, and the race on the whole has settled down into fairly standard my-car’s-faster-than-your-car fare.

The only drivers from the top 10 in the standings not currently in a points place are Norris, Albon and Stroll – Sainz, Ocon and Vettel are the trio punching above their recent championship weights.

Lap 58/66: Bodywork issues for Bottas, who has debris hanging off to the right of his cockpit. Hamilton, muscles perhaps lulled into a bit of complacency, reports a touch of cramp. Surely no late drama to derail a one-two for the Mercedes pair?

Lap 56/66: TEN LAPS TO GO! Ocon, Ricciardo and Vettel are in a Renault-Renault-Ferrari ding-dong-ding for eighth place. Four-times drivers’ champion Vettel has had a fairly unenjoyable weekend but has made up a handful of places for a points position.

Lap 55/66: Still pretty serene up front for Hamilton – he’s almost 16 seconds clear of Bottas. He’s lapped everyone down to fifth place now.

Kvyat, down in 16th, has attracted a time penalty.

Lap 54/66: Spoke too soon – Stroll is the first retirement. Since his third place at Monza, that’s four successive failures to start or finish for the Racing Point driver.

Lap 52/66: Still no retirements, despite Stroll’s earlier efforts. Still serene progress for Hamilton up front.

Russell has now taken Giovinazzi, and meanwhile Albon has had two warnings for track limits and is on notice.

Lap 50/66: Russell, down in 14th, is having an enjoyably competitive race, clambering all over the back of Giovinazzi despite the best efforts of his Williams, which hops off the track as the car loses downforce.

Lap 47/66: Bottas has stopped the rot of ebbing pace and pulls away a little more from Verstappen – the gap is now 8.2secs.

Sainz relegates Ricciardo to ninth, while Raikkonen rounds out the points places.

Oooh – impressive work in the pits from Red Bull … a superb 1.8secs stop for Albon.

Lap 46/66: Twenty laps to go. Verstappen is shortly to be within seven seconds behind. As things stand, there’ll be no constructors’ title for Mercedes today, but Michael Schumacher is looking a lot like ending the day with the second-most all-time F1 race wins.

Lap 45/66: The gap from Hamilton to Bottas is holding steady, but the one from Bottas to Verstappen … not so much. The Red Bull racer is now within eight seconds of second.

Gasly takes Ricciardo for seventh place.

Lap 43/66

Full standings
1 Hamilton
2 Bottas
3 Verstappen
4 Leclerc
5 Pérez
6 Ocon
7 Ricciardo
8 Gasly
9 Sainz
10 Raikkonen
11 Albon
12 Vettel
13 Norris
14 Giovinazzi
15 Russell
16 Kvyat
17 Grosjean
18 Magnussen
19 Latifi
20 Stroll

Lap 42/66: Fake news … Bottas comes in, and he takes the hard compound as well. He rejoins behind Hamilton and is losing even more pace. Gap is now over 11 seconds.

Verstappen, on the medium compound, is still third, 10 seconds behind the Finn.

Lap 41/66: Hamilton pits, takes the hard compound, and rejoins in second behind Bottas … who is considering switching to softs.

Lap 39/66: Everyone below Ocon in sixth position has now been lapped, but still no retirements to report.

Bottas is falling even further behind Hamilton – the gap is about to be 10 seconds.

Lap 38/66: George Russell pits from seventh. An encouraging opening stint from the Williams driver. He comes back out in 14th.

Hamilton has pulled out another second from Bottas – suddenly the lead is around nine seconds.

Lap 35/66: After all that, Sainz retakes 10th moments later.

Vettel is up to third after Leclerc pits – the Ferrari re-emerges in fourth.

Bottas briefly cut the gap to Hamilton by half a second, but it’s holding steadyish around the eight-second mark.

Lap 33/66: Sainz and Raikkonen are slugging it out for that 10th place. They trade the final points position multiple times before Raikkonen emerges, chest puffed out.

“Cool the car,” reports Bottas’s dashboard. Uh oh. Could another retirement be on the way?

Standings at halfway:
1 Hamilton
2 Bottas
3 Leclerc
4 Verstappen
5 Ocon
6 Pérez
7 Russell
8 Ricciardo
9 Gasly
10 Raikkonen

Lap 30/66: As half-race distance approaches, the gap from first to second expands to over eight seconds.

Lap 29/66: Hamilton is moving beautifully, seven seconds clear of Bottas. Leclerc is 23 back, with Verstappen 21 further behind in fourth.

Raikkonen is back in the points in 10th. However Stroll, in last, has attracted another penalty, this time for exceeding track limits.

Lap 26/66: Leclerc, in third after Verstappen’s stop, is 16 seconds behind Bottas.

Sainz pits to switch for mediums, to leave Gasly the final racer on soft tyres.

With Vettel in the pits, that leaves Hamilton, Bottas, Leclerc, Gasly, Ocon, Russell, Giovinazzi and Magnussen are the only drivers without stops to their name.

Lap 23/66: Five-second penalty for Stroll! That’s small comfort for Norris, who is now down in 19th after their collision.

The wins record is very much on for Hamilton – 3.3secs now the lead. You may have noted incidentally that Williams’ George Russell, without a point this season, is currently running ninth. He’s never finished higher than 11th in a grand prix.

Lap 22/66: Bottas is suddenly slipping to almost three seconds behind the new leader. Always fun to see a top 10 shaken up as stops start playing a part btw …

Current standings:
1 Hamilton
2 Bottas
3 Verstappen
4 Leclerc
5 Gasly
6 Sainz
7 Ocon
8 Vettel
9 Russell
10 Giovinazzi

Lap 20/66: Hamilton’s quick progress has taken him right into Bottas’s slipstream, he makes use of DRS … to take the lead into turn one! A pretty regulation overtake and almost immediately he pulls a second out from his teammate.

Lap 18/66: Lance Stroll spins while trying to go wide on the kerb to take Norris – suddenly he’s down in 11th, and there’s bits of front wing hanging off for the Racing Point driver. Some sweary testimony from Norris’s side of things on the radio.

Lap 17/66: Sainz and Gasly are having a great little ding-dong for fifth. The McLaren driver shuts the door belligerently a couple of times to maintain his place.

Eeeeeee Verstappen’s front right looks more than a little problematic.

Lap 16/66: Hamilton sets the fastest lap of the race, despite his apparently dicky tyre. He’s been holding steady around 1.9secs behind his teammate.

Lap 15/66: Ocon is in the points in 10th. Ricciardo is in and rejoins with medium tyres, while, intriguingly, Hamilton radios in to report discomfort with his left front tyre.

Lap 13/66: Ricciardo more or less waves Stroll through into eighth. Raikkonen’s had enough of the soft compound and has rejoined in 20th on mediums.

Verstappen is over nine seconds off the lead, 6.8secs behind Hamilton in second.

Lap 12/66: Leclerc’s Ferrari is back up to where it started, taking fourth from Sainz. Vettel, incidentally, is down in 13th.

Verstappen still third but he wants to pit.

Lap 10/66: Those on soft tyres – Sainz, Verstappen, Norris, Raikkonen, Ricciardo, Gasly and Albon – will soon have a decision to make. They’re being outpaced by rivals on the medium compound.

Gasly is up to sixth, while Stroll takes ninth from Raikkonen, whose incredible start suddenly feels like it’s from a different race weekend.

Lap 9/66: Fastest lap of the race for Bottas. Leclarc takes Norris. Raikkonen’s brilliant start is fading, with Ricciardo now up to seventh, and Gasly also finds a way past.

1 Bottas
2 Hamilton
3 Verstappen
4 Sainz
5 Leclerc
6 Norris
7 Ricciardo
8 Gasly
9 Raikkonen
10 Stroll

Lap 8/66: Verstappen relegates Sainz to fourth, while Leclerc – also on the medium compound tyres – takes Raikkonen’s sixth spot. Hamilton is just shy of two seconds down from his teammate, with Verstappen a further 2.5secs back.

Lap 6/66: Bottas retakes the lead and straight away pulls clear from Sainz. Verstappen’s taken Norris and is lapping quicker than anybody on the track.

Into lap seven, and Hamilton eases past Sainz as well, as the leading drivers running medium tyres start to capitalise.

Lap 3/66: Verstappen’s interesting start has eased into a battle for fourth with Norris. Raikkonen is just behind, having made up 10 places from the start.

Lap 2/66: Sainz LEADS! Hard to blame Bottas there as all drivers take interesting approaches to find the desired line. Hamilton still third.

Lap 1/66: Oh my days. Rain IS falling. Cars lunging wide at corners two and three. Raikkonen spitting fire while on the charge to sixth. Sainz took second from Hamilton … before …

Hamilton swallowed up … and Verstappen hits Pérez! Wild start, with the Dutchman taking second from Bottas, while Hamilton is unable to lead the charge from pole and loses the lead.

A few corners later Verstappen is off the track after catching the Racing Point … LEAVING BOTTAS IN FRONT!

They’re off for the formation lap. And apparently that rain I mentioned, that was due to just about miss the race, might actually be about to play a part … Gasly says a few spots have just landed on his visor.

Given the tyre fun teams endured yesterday, that could really shake things up. STAND BY YOUR BEDS … race incoming …

In seven minutes’ time, brace yourselves for a dramatic start. Stroll and Verstappen collided at turn one in practice on Friday, and Sainz is wary that it could cause a hairy situation at the start of the race.

Speaking to F1.com, the McLaren driver said: “That Turn 1, it’s asking for some accidents. The angle of the corner and how fast the guys on the outside will approach it – and how slow the guys on the inside [will be] and which angle we will approach it – it will be tricky! It’s going to be a bit of an experiment this track, and hopefully it can create some cool racing.”

The drivers have just been out to make the now-familiar End Racism gesture, with Hamilton wearing a Black Lives Matter shirt. Some fans are present at the circuit this weekend, and the message was warmly received.

Speaking to Sky Sports earlier, Hamilton displayed a different shirt bearing the hashtag: “#ENDSARS”, a protest against Nigeria’s infamous Special Anti-Robbery Squad.

Some more context here …

While the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve makes its F1 bow, it’s not completely alien to everyone on the grid and working at some of the teams.

Within weeks of the circuit’s completion in 2008, Ferrari and McLaren spent two days testing that December. Renault, Toro Rosso (now AlphaTauri) and Williams also spent some tinker time there in early 2009.

Ricciardo won the British F3 championship on the circuit in 2009, while Pérez competed in GP2 the same year. Albon, Leclerc, Russell and Stroll all competed in the Formula 3 European Championship.

Asked about the venue earlier this weekend, Hamilton said: “Oh god – it’s hardcore. It’s a really, really hardcore circuit. There are places where you can’t see where you’re going. You’re looking at the sky for periods of time. Understanding your braking points, there are no references when you’re looking at the sky. It really is one of the most challenging circuits I’ve been too.”

In the drivers’ standings, Verstappen closed the gap on Bottas in second at the Eifel GP. The Finn’s failure to finish from pole due to a power problem left the way open for 23-year-old to take second place.

Hamilton has a mammoth 69pt cushion at the top.

Drivers’ standings
1 Lewis Hamilton 230pts
2 Valtteri Bottas 161
3 Max Verstappen 147
4 Daniel Ricciardo 78
5 Sergio Pérez 68
6 Lando Norris 65
7 Alexander Albon 64
8 Charles Leclerc 63
9 Lance Stroll 57
10 Pierre Gasly 53
11 Carlos Sainz 51
12 Esteban Ocon 36
13 Sebastian Vettel 17
14 Daniil Kvyat 14
15 Nico Hülkenberg 10
16 Antonio Giovinazzi 3
17 Kimi Raikkonen 2
18 Romain Grosjean 2
19 Kevin Magnussen 1
20 Nicholas Latifi 0
21 George Russell 0

Another subplot today is that, mathematically, Mercedes could secure their seventh successive constructors’ title. It would require them to better Red Bull’s points haul from the weekend by 40 or more, which would require both Max Verstappen (who starts third) and Alexander Albon (starting sixth) to both have days to forget.

Constructors’ standings
1 Mercedes 391pts
2 Red Bull 211
3 Racing Point 120
4 McLaren 116
5 Renault 114
6 Ferrari 80
7 AlphaTauri 67
8 Alfa Romeo 5
9 Haas 3
10 Williams 0

The cars are on their way out on the pit lane, with the start 35 minutes away.

Happy Sunday! Welcome to lap-by-lap coverage from the first Portuguese Grand Prix since 1996. It’s already been a dramatic weekend at the 12-year-old Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, making its F1 bow, with drivers frustrated by a broken drain cover that halted final practice and delayed qualifying, and then a brilliantly tight qualifying session (of which more in a sec).

It’s all led up to a Mercedes one-two on the grid, fronted by defending champion and runaway 2020 drivers’ standings leader Lewis Hamilton, who has been racking up records in recent times, and today has his first opportunity at a big ’un, outright.

Michael Schumacher overhauled Alain Prost for race wins at the 2001 Belgian Grand Prix, when he took his 52nd victory. Between 2001 and 2006 he added 39 more, leaving him light years ahead of everyone else.

In recent times, Hamilton has reeled his haul in and two weeks ago at Nürburgring he joined Schumacher on 91. Given the British driver’s dominance in recent seasons, and his team’s superiority over the chasing pack, it’s a a question of when rather than if he will make the record all his own.

His teammate Valtteri Bottas starts second, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen third and Charles Leclerc an encouraging fourth for Ferrari.

Rain is forecast to arrive at Portimão in a few hours, but as things stand we should just about get a full race in bright, cloudy conditions.

With BST ending overnight in the UK, sending a nation into its six-monthly fart about to find instructions of how to change the clocks in their cars and on their ovens, the race starts at 1.10pm GMT.