MOTORSPORT: Hamilton's record-breaking F1 win

Formula 1 superstar Lewis Hamilton has won a record 92nd Grand Prix, eclipsing Michael Schumacher’s record.

The Mercedes-AMG driver dropped back to third from pole in the hectic early laps of the Portuguese Grand Prix when drizzling rain and the slick Portimao circuit’s surface up-ended the order.

But by lap 20 he had taken the lead from teammate Valtteri Bottas and by the end of the 66-lap race he had stretched out to a commanding 25-second win despite a late-race cramp in his right calf.

Hamilton now has a 77-point lead over Bottas in the hunt for his seventh drivers’ championship, which would bring him equal with Schumacher’s title record.

“I owe these 92 wins to the team here and back at the factory for their tremendous work,” Hamilton said after his eighth win of the year.

“They are continuously innovating and pushing the barrier, even higher every year. It’s been such a privilege working with them and I am so grateful for all the moments.

“I feel very blessed. It’s going to take some time for it to sink in.”

Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo could not replicate his Nurburgring heroics of two weeks ago, qualifying 10th and finishing only ninth in his Renault, immediately behind teammate Esteban Ocon.

“It was a crazy start to the race, and we did manage to make up some places on the first lap moving up to eighth,” said Ricciardo.

“Once it settled, we struggled for grip on the ‘softs’ and so we pitted quite early. We had the ‘mediums’ on for a lengthy spell, so we had to spend a lot of the second stint managing the tyres. I never really had the tyres in the right window so I couldn’t push too hard.”

Behind Bottas, Red Bull-Honda’s Max Verstappen completed the top three, with Charles Leclerc driving brilliantly for fourth in the recalcitrant 2020 Ferrari.

Pierre Gasly’s climb from 10th to fifth place for AlphaTauri-Honda was equally meritorious, overcoming some extremely aggressive defending by Racing Point-Mercedes’ Sergio Perez.

The Mexican, who spun after contact with Verstappen on the first lap, also drove brilliantly back through the field from last, but had to surrender sixth to McLaren-Renault’s Carlos Sainz on the last lap.

Sainz actually led F1’s debut at Portimao on soft tyres in the early laps as the Mercedes struggled for race pace on medium Pirellis. But once switched on, they quickly reasserted themselves and drove away from the field.

Verstappen’s clash with Perez was classified as a racing incident, but Racing Point’s Lance Stroll wasn’t so lucky, penalised for contact with McLaren’s Lando Norris in the high-speed first turn.

That highlighted the intense battle in the F1 midfield, made all the more dramatic by the aggressive DRS zone on the front straight which enabled lots of passing and some heroic side-by-side racing as well.

Racing Point, McLaren and Renault are separated by just six points in the battle for the 2020 constructors’ championship.

Apart from the racing, the F1 driver market was the other big discussion point in Portugal.

Before the race, Haas-Ferrari confirmed Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen would both leave the team at the end of the season. They are expected to be replaced by Russian Nikiti Mazepin and Michael Schumacher’s son Mick, both of whom will graduate from Formula 2.

Mercedes-backed rising star George Russell’s position is also being questioned, with rumours linking well-funded Perez to his seat at struggling Williams.

Red Bull’s Alex Albon also appears to be in trouble. He did his cause no good with a 12th-place finish a lap down to Verstappen in Portugal.

Meanwhile, Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin’s IndyCar debut came to a premature end with a crash on lap 47 of the season finale in St Petersburg, Florida.

McLaughlin qualified 21st out of 24 cars in his Team Penske Dallara-Chev and ran as high as 16th before making contact with Marco Andretti at a restart.

He then spun off the track, taking Rinus Veekay with him.

“It was going really well and I tried to block Marco, and I thought I was there or thereabouts but had half a rear-lock.

“The cold tyres put me off a bit. I’m really disappointed but I had a lot of fun today.”

McLaughlin was confirmed on Saturday as racing full-time for Team Penske in 2021 in IndyCars at the same time as owner Roger Penske announced he was pulling out of his partnership in Supercars racing with Dick Johnson.

Fellow New Zealander Scott Dixon won the IndyCar championship for the sixth time.