Max Verstappen secures top 10 GT Portimao finish after major team penalty

After an hour and a half, it was clear that Verstappen Racing, in the #3 Mercedes-AMG GT3, had a shot at finishing on the podium at Portimão. Ben Barnicoat drove a rock-solid first stint and climbed from P13 to P8, after which Chris Lulham immediately showed just how fast he is in this car by moving up to P6. In the laps that followed, he steadily chipped away at his deficit to the leader, the #17 Mercedes with Ralf Aron behind the wheel.

Max Verstappen rallied from a drive-through penalty for the #3 Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the GT race at Portimao to finish in a strong ninth place.

90 minutes into the three-hour race in Portugual, Ben Barnicoat and Chris Lulham had got the car up to sixth, with the #17 Mercedes of Ralf Aron leading. 

While Lulham was working to close the gap, a full-course yellow was called, which would later turn into a safety car. This brought the field back together, and Lulham seemed poised to overtake the #48 Mercedes in the battle for P5, but his first attempt at a pass went wrong. 

Lulham made contact with the #48 Mercedes, causing the latter to spin. The #3 Mercedes was able to continue without too much damage, but the obvious problem was almost impossible to ignore: there was a good chance the team would face a penalty. 

Ultimately, a drive-through penalty was issued, which Lulham served before the end of his stint, before handing over to Verstappen for the final stint under the lights.

Verstappen Makes the Most of It

Verstappen eventually returned to the track in P24 and had to work his way back up from that position. 

He was fast right away and posted lap times roughly on par with the drivers at the front of the field, where the #2 Porsche driven by Morris Schuring lost a spot and dropped back to P3. The #17 Mercedes was still in the lead and had a solid lead over the #80 Porsche. 

Verstappen was just getting into his stride when a full-course yellow was called. It lasted longer than usual, bringing out the safety car once again and bunching the field up. That made the battle at the front of the field particularly exciting, though all eyes were also on Verstappen, who was in P19 at the restart. 

Verstappen ultimately benefited quite a bit from that safety car, as the small gaps between cars allowed him to continue moving up the field. With fifteen minutes remaining, he was in P15, three seconds behind the #50 Ferrari driven by Arthur Leclerc in P10. 

For a moment, it looked like it might be difficult to make the top ten, until he pulled off an impressive move in the very final moments and gained three positions in one go. 

He ultimately finished in P9, limiting the damage for his team/

The victory ultimately went to the #17 Mercedes, ahead of the #80 Porsche.

 The #2 Porsche, the race’s polesitter, rounded out the podium in third place.