[mayankk]

Well, normal service resumes, but quite differently this time around. That was very late in the day for Hamilton to take the lead back. But boy, what a move on both the front runners. And 97 victories just like that! What a champ.

[ZenMaster]

The Mercs are back on track. The default HAM-VER-BOT podium is back. Ferrari messes up strategy for the 2nd drive like always by giving Carlos the Medium tyres even though they knew Leclerc was struggling on the Mediums and gave him the Hard tyres.

Perez did a monster stint on his Medium tyres and made sure that RB had the ability to make good strategy calls (even though they didn't) and proved that Horner made the right call signing him up. Had they pitted Perez while he had the 14 second lead on Hamilton, He would have had a good chance to clinch a podium finish and securing a 2-3 for RB. Instead they chose to keep him out and try to slow Hamilton to give Max a fighting chance. But we all saw how that strategy didn't work and also lost the extra point for the Fastest Lap to Bottas. Lewis the Knight was able to find the Chink in the RB armour and drove straight through it to victory

[Hatari]

Nice race. Toto's reaction of shock when Lewis missed Pole started things off!
Hope Mercedes dont start pulling away in the title fight.

Nice to see Alonso 'back'! Maximised his 1st stint and attacked very well thereafter.

Quite a see saw of pace from the mid field teams.

[somaiya11]

Originally Posted by Akshay6988

So the usual Ham - Ver - Bot returns. Dread it, run from it, the same result still arrives. Good to see Alonso and Ocon score points ! What is the issue at Haas though they're terribly slow. Looking forward to spanish GP now.

Haas is focusing on the next year with the new regulations and basically they have not made any updates to the car for the current year. That's the reason they're so slow in the current year. Also I think, considering they've got two rookie drivers on board still getting used to the setup.

[sen2693]

Originally Posted by Akshay6988

Looking forward to spanish GP now.

Why though Correct me if I am wrong, last time it was interesting was in 2016 when the Mercs gracefully bowed out to let others have some competition.

Mercs also seemed to have picked up, so another HAM-BOT-VER would seem to be the likely scenario. Midfield can be a bit tense in qualifying though - McLaren and Ferrari seem to be at it followed by Alpine, AT and then AM.

[Red Liner]

I actually slept midway during the race. It was that boring. I dont think i even care about watching the next races. Unless there's a Ferrari battling it out three way with the other two, F1 is no longer interesting.

[rainmaster]

An uneventful Portuguese Grand prix. After two exciting season openers, race at Portimao was a downer for me.

Front runners :

Great race by Hamiton and Mercedes. Hamilton waited for the right opportunity and cashed in when Max made slight error. As usual, Bottas didn’t had race pace to match Hamilton’s performance, nevertheless a solid podium and bagged one additional point for fastest lap.
Solid race by Max and Perez, Red bull didn’t had ultimate pace to challenge Mercedes, next best thing is to bag maximum available points. A good damage limitation by Red bull.

Best of the rest :

Norris continuing his great form, fantastic race for him and decent recovery drive from Riccardo. Not sure whether Alpine had finally unlocked the potential or track suits their car better. Great finish for both Ocon and Alonso. Ferrari might be disappointed with the results but they will bounce back. I guess, Ferrari have the best driver line up. If the car is good both Leclerc and Sainz will bring results.

Nowhere to be seen :

Alpha Tauri, Aston Martin and Alfa Romeo had dismal performance. Gasly got consolation point but overall their performance were poor.

Backmarkers :

Mick had decent race, put up a good fight with Latifi . Overall Williams and Haas remains the usual suspects for backmarkers.

[akash_v12]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

I actually slept midway during the race. It was that boring. I dont think i even care about watching the next races. Unless there's a Ferrari battling it out three way with the other two, F1 is no longer interesting.

Although I wouldn't go as far as saying that I'll stop watching the races, I will agree that Portimao was very disappointing this year. Maybe it was the wind or just the simple timing of the Grand Prix, that's what led to this mini "snoozefest". Unfortunately, the next one (Spain) is not too great either, so I guess we wait for Monaco, which is practically the circuit of strategies.