Mercedes answer critics: Portuguese Grand Prix roundup

Lewis Hamilton took the chequered flag on Sunday as he extends his lead in the Drivers Championship with Verstappen trailing with eight points behind.

It was an easy race for Hamilton as he overtook both Verstappen and Bottas with ease, then took control of the race and showed his experience. Verstappen followed in second with Bottas finishing in third.

Kimi Raikkonen brought out the safety car at the end of the first lap after crashing into the back of his teammate, a rookie mistake from the most experienced driver on the grid.

Verstappen will be disappointed with his performance as his pole and fastest lap times were both deleted for track limits.

Sergio Perez did a very impressive stint on the Medium tire going for 52 laps and managed to finish fourth, showing why Red Bull replaced Alex Albon with the Mexican.

His long stint on the Medium tire managed to get him the driver of the day award, even though there are strong rumours HAAS driver Nikita Mazepin won the vote, but it was supposedly changed to the new Red Bull driver.

Mercedes were clinical and decisive in their pitstop strategy this race by ensuring Red Bull had no chance of taking the lead. It was not until Bottas lost the rear end of the car after coming out the pits Verstappen could overtake.

Lando Norris also kept up his form of finishing in the top five of every race this season. The young brit is currently third in the Drivers Championship and surprised everyone with how quick he is. His winter training camp has certainly paid off.

After a fantastic qualifying from George Russell who managed to get his Williams into P11 had an abysmal race, falling down the pack continuously and finished P16.

Russell claimed his car was undrivable throughout the race as soon as it got near any other car.

His teammate, Nicholas Latifi also reported similar issues.

Latifi was even overtaken by the much slower Mick Schumacher in the HAAS, who had a fantastic race and has been highly praised by his engineer for his methodical approach to F1.

It is all eyes now to this Sunday's race in Spain where Verstappen will be looking to hit back at Hamilton as this season looks to be one of the most competitive in years.