Portuguese Grand Prix – Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas has led Lewis Hamilton in opening practice at the Portimao circuit in Portugal.
Click here for the complete results from FP1 – 2020 Portuguese Grand Prix.
Valtteri Bottas has topped the times in opening practice at Portimao, ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton.
As can be expected at a new venue, it was a tentative start to the session as the drivers headed out on the Hard tyres to get to grips with the Portimao circuit. With fresh tarmac down on the track, there wasn’t much grip at the start and there were plenty of incidents with drivers running wide into the escape areas and some spins.
However, there were no major incidents or stoppages and the times gradually came down as the grip ramped up and the drivers took on the Medium tyres to increase the pace.
At the end, it was Valtteri Bottas who finished on top with a 1:18.410 on the Medium compound. The Finn finished 0.339 clear of Lewis Hamilton on the same compound. However, both drivers complained of graining on the left front tyres after just a handful of laps on that compound, suggesting heavy tyre wear.
Closest challenger to the Mercs was, as usual, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. The Dutch driver finished 0.781 down on Bottas’ time but never fitted the Medium tyre – instead preferring to spend his time on the Hards.
Charles Leclerc did the same, placing his Ferrari in P4 and just over a tenth down on Verstappen on the Hards. Ferrari ran their car with an updated floor in first practice, as they look to the 2021 updates as the homologation date for parts looms.
Alex Albon finished P5 for Red Bull Racing, complaining of a lack of grip at low speed with his RB16. He also ran the Hards throughout, finishing two tenths behind Verstappen and 0.9 off the best time set by Bottas.
Carlos Sainz was P6 for McLaren, a further tenth back, with Sergio Perez P7 for Racing Point. Kimi Raikkonen was one of several drivers to spin during the session, but recovered to finish P8 by the chequered flag after a strong session in his Alfa Romeo.
Daniel Ricciardo was P9 for Renault, with Pierre Gasly rounding out the top ten in his Alpha Tauri.
Sebastian Vettel finished P11 for Ferrari, and he ended up 1.8 seconds off the pace set by Bottas and almost a full second behind Charles Leclerc on the same compound. Lando Norris was P12 for McLaren, while Daniil Kvyat finished P13 for Alpha Tauri.
Kevin Magnussen was P14 for Haas, while Lance Stroll finished P15 as he returned to the cockpit of his RP20 after his bout of COVID-19. Antonio Giovinazzi was P16 for Alfa Romeo, while Romain Grosjean was P17 for Haas.
George Russell ended the session in P18 after missing some of the early part of the session as he was stuck in the garage while his mechanics worked on his car, with Esteban Ocon P19 for Renault. The French driver encountered an issue at the end of the session, with smoke coming out the rear of his car as his engineer told him to return to the pits and not to change gear.
Nicholas Latifi finished P20 for Williams.
