Lewis Hamilton's victory in Portugal is proof the Brit is relishing the challenge posed by Red Bull according to Mika Hakkinen, as he reminded everyone why he is a seven-time world champion. The Mercedes star just missed out on pole and even fell to third at one point during Sunday's race, but he didn't let that bring him down as he battled back to claim his 97th career victory. Hakkinen believes Hamilton's race craft was too much for rival Max Verstappen and teammate Valtteri Bottas. "Hamilton might be closer to the end of his F1 career than the beginning, but he has lost none of his love of racing," Hakkinen wrote in his column for Unibet. "He is really enjoying the challenge Mercedes is facing from Red Bull, and Sunday’s Portuguese Grand Prix gave Lewis another opportunity to remind everyone why he is a seven times World Champion. "He won the race despite not qualifying on pole position and even dropping to 3rd on lap 7. But race craft has always been a strong point for Lewis, and he did a brilliant job again." Although Hamilton took victory, he did get caught out at the safety car restart. Hakkinen believes the Brit was too focused on Bottas rather than Verstappen behind him. "Even so, it was interesting to see him make that small mistake at the Safety Car restart," Hakkinen added. "Lewis was looking in his mirrors to check Verstappen’s position instead of focussing on Bottas."
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