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sports Dialuna 3 Mei 2021

Hamilton-Verstappen battle promises thrilling F1 season

(AP) – Three intense back and win in Portugal, Hamilton said. Right on my The safety car came out on halfway point.
wheel-to-wheel races with extending his championship limit. Great race. Lap 2 for debris on the track
dogged defending and ag- lead over Verstappen to eight as veteran Kimi Raikkonen The undulating 4.7-kilome-
gressive overtaking have points in his bid to surpass The British driver started lost his front wing and went ter (2.9-mile) track in Portu-
made the Formula One seven-time champion Mi- from second on the grid be- off into gravel after clipping gal's Algarve region is one of
season a thrilling battle chael Schumacher and stand hind Bottas, who took a bo- the left rear tire of his Alfa the most pleasing on the eye,
so far, with veteran Lewis alone among F1 greats. nus point for the fastest lap. Romeo teammate Antonio but drivers have complained
Hamilton chasing a re- Verstappen thought he set the Giovinazzi. of lack of grip since new tar-
cord eighth title and Max It has been exactly the kind fastest time — on his final lap mac was laid before last year's
Verstappen going all out of close racing fans have been — but it was deleted because It was my mistake, Raik- race.
to stop him. craving after seven years of he went wide of track limits. konen said. I'm just glad I
Mercedes drivers' and con- didn't ruin his tire. This seemed to make it hard-
Hamilton's victory at Sun- structors' titles. Really OK. That's a bit odd, er for Verstappen to attack.
day's Portuguese Grand Prix Verstappen said when he was When the race resumed on
was his second of the sea- It is down to respect, and I told about the decision dur- Lap 7, Bottas surprised Ham- Verstappen pitted before the
son and 97th of his glitter- think we are both very, very ing the post-race track inter- ilton with a fast restart, while two Mercedes drivers, on Lap
ing career. It also ensured all hard but fair, Hamilton said. views. Verstappen got in Hamilton's 36 followed by Bottas on the
the races this year have seen I think that's what makes slipstream to move past him next and Hamilton on Lap
Hamilton and Verstappen great racing and great racing Hamilton and Verstappen into second. 38.
finish in the top two posi- drivers, and I think we will now head into next Sunday's Verstappen couldn't over-
tions, with Verstappen win- continue to keep it clean and Spanish GP. take Bottas despite being in Bottas came out just ahead
ning one after going so close keep it on the edge. the DRS zone, which Ham- of a flying Verstappen, who
to winning the season's open- In Portugal, Bottas took pole ilton exploited to zoom past passed him easily to move
er in Bahrain. At one point Hamilton to deny Hamilton a record- Verstappen on the outside to behind Hamilton and Red
slipped to third place on Sun- extending 100th, making him reclaim second four laps lat- Bull's Sergio Perez in the race
When you know that you can day, but the Mercedes driver the third different pole-sitter er. Hamilton then set about lead — although the veteran
go to the absolute limit, you slickly moved ahead on Lap so far after Verstappen and chasing Bottas, overtaking Mexican was on old tires.
can trust each other to just 20 of 66 to finish ahead of Hamilton. He made a clean him with another fine move
race super-hard, Verstappen Red Bull's Verstappen and his start to hold off Hamilton on the outside to stamp his
said. I always have full trust Mercedes teammate Valtteri and Verstappen but dropped authority on the race.
in Lewis, that we will give Bottas in third. off.
each other enough space. Verstappen was stuck behind
That was such a tough race, It was a tricky day today, just Bottas, which allowed Ham-
Hamilton made typically physically and mentally, didn't have the pace, Bottas ilton to move ahead by nearly
clinical overtakes to bounce keeping everything together, said. four seconds approaching the