[NeilP]

After an entertaining race we move on to Portugal.

Last years race was pretty good in many ways but dominated by the big bad Mercedes team.  Hamilton on pole was passed early by Bottas, Verstappen and the race was even led by Sainz in a McLaren for a brief period but he made back the places and went on to win with some ease.

I have high hopes for this race, really only one obvious overtaking spot which is the home straight, almost too easy with DRS which is immensely powerful here.  I honestly think McLaren can join Red Bull and Mercedes for the podium battle. They went pretty well last year and with a Mercedes engine in them should be even better this time around.

I fully expect to see Mercedes power on full show here and we will get to see just how close the Honda engine is on that home straight.

Max vs Lewis for the WDC is absolutely on this year and for this fan it will interesting to see how Max handles the pressure.  I have to think Bottas is under huge pressure from here on in. His grip on that second Mercedes seat was weakened considerably by that last race and not because of the crash with Russell. I like others am somewhat shocked at how much better Lando is that Danny Ricc right now. I thought that would be closer than it is.  Maybe a few more races will see that change.

The future of F1 is in good hands driver wise.  Verstappen, Norris, Russell and LeClerc all have potential to win the WDC in the right car (whatever that may be).

Expecting a much closer race this time around, it will be interesting to see what driver and indeed team comes off the better