General
Verstappen can't attack at start; Raikkonen causes safety car and retires
- GPblog.com
The start of the Portuguese Grand Prix went without any problems for everyone. When the lights went out everyone got away well on the Portimao circuit. Max Verstappen got away well but couldn't attack the Mercedes cars of Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton.
Bottas cashed in on his pole position and teammate Hamilton closed in on second place. Verstappen managed to keep his third spot, but Sergio Perez lost a place to Carlos Sainz. The Spaniard of Ferrari is the only one in the top five driving on red tyres and therefore had a better start.
No safety cars in the first round in the Algarve, as was the case in Bahrain and Imola. In the second lap, however, this did happen. Kimi Raikkonen caused this by hitting the back of Antonio Giovinazzi on the straight. The front wing was lost and it was the end of the race for the Finnish driver.