Lewis Hamilton wins Portuguese Grand Prix as Max Verstappen crushed by late fastest lap call

Max Verstappen was all smiles after the Portuguese Grand Prix, but it lasted half the post-race interview to ruin his mood.

Daniel Ricciardo has had a tough weekend so far.

Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton has won the 2021 Portuguese Grand Prix with his 97th career win, but Red Bull's Max Verstappen is not letting up in the chase for the title.

The Red Bull star gave up going for the win late in the race, having sat too far back to attack Hamilton, and instead going for the fastest lap.

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It looked like he had the result as well, beating Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas, who also went for the fastest lap, with the final lap of the race.

Verstappen was thrilled with the extra point for the quickest lap, letting out some joy on team radio, laughing "oh f***, that was not easy".

But as he congratulated Hamilton for his win but the commentators said on the coverage that his fastest lap had been deleted for exceeding track limits on lap 14.

It meant it reverted back to Bottas.

Verstappen looked happy with his day behind the wheel, celebrating with his team.

Even in the interview he was pleased.

"Around here we were lacking a bit of pace compared to them but still, second, fastest lap in the last lap," he said with a beaming smile.

But Sky Sports' Paul di Resta ruined his mood, saying: "I think you've been deleted for track limits at turn 14."

“Oh really? That’s a good one,” Verstappen said has his mood immediately changed. 

Max Verstappen's mood changed very quickly.

"That's a bit odd because they weren't tracking track limits at turn 14 so whatever."

It ends an angry weekend for Verstappen, who is now seven points behind Hamilton in the driver's championship.

After qualifying, Verstappen was raging over "f***ing d***heads" after he missed pole position.

The Sky Sports crew said that turn 14 and turn 4 had track limits added before the driver briefing on Saturday.

But there were a few good stories from the day with Fernando Alonso and Daniel Ricciardo both making up for horror qualifying runs to finish in the points.

Ricciardo moved from 16th to 11th within the first seven laps and quickly moved into the points, a position he would not relinquish for the rest of the race.

After he pitted on lap 42, Ricciardo overtook Pierre Gasly for ninth place, but was quickly overtaken by a flying Alonso, who's tyre change came at the perfect time as he finished in eighth, despite starting at 13th on the grid.

Ricciardo and Alonso both caught Ferrari's Carlos Sainz as his tyre degraded late, as the Aussie finished in ninth and adding points after a nightmarish Saturday qualifying.

It turned out to be a good weekend for Daniel Ricciardo.

While the race itself was far from spectacular, with only Kimi Raikkonen running into his Alfa Romeo teammate Antonio Giovinazzi on the first lap to take himself out, it will prove to be an important race with Verstappen pushing for the top of the drivers' championship.

Portuguese Grand Prix Results

1st: Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

2nd: Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

3rd: Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)

4th: Sergio Perez (Red Bull)

5th: Lando Norris (McLaren)

6th: - Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)

7th: Esteban Ocon (Alpine)

8th: Fernando Alonso (Alpine)

9th:Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren)

10th: Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri)