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The Portuguese Grand Prix time trial began with a half-hour slide, after one of the canal covers came loose during the third free practice. The job and inspections were not completed at the start of the timer, therefore the FIA postponed the start of qualifying until 14:30.
Valtteri Bottas, a Mercedes driver, better tuned for the time trial: the Finnish driver won all three free practice sessionsHowever, Red Bull didn’t have a huge disadvantage in last practice either.
A Q1-I George Russell ejected Kimi Raikkonen, the Alfa Romeo driver, from the relay at the last minute, giving Williams’ British talent the feat again and advancing to Q2.
In the first stage of the time trial, together with Räikkönen, his teammate Antonio Giovinazzi, the two Haas: Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen, and Nicholas Latifi, the other Williams driver, said goodbye.
A Q2-I Mercedes and Ferraris completed their first fastest lap on medium mixes, and Ferrari also sent both cars onto the track with medium on their second attempt. Charles Leclerc managed to advance, but for Vettel he only had enough time for 15th place. Vettel complained on the team radio that he had failed to bring the tires to the proper temperature, so he did not repair them.
At the end of the second stage Daniel Ricciardo ran away, which meant the entry of a yellow flag, but in the end it did not affect the march of anyone. However, Ricciardo’s car had to be repaired after the Australian hit the rubber wall with his rear wing, so the team couldn’t even send its driver onto the track in Q3.
With the exception of Leclerc, they have all completed their fastest lap in Q2 on soft tires, so Monaco will be the only one in the top 10 to start the mediocre Pirellis in tomorrow’s race.
In Q2, before Vettel, the other defectors were Esteban Ocon, Lance Stroll, Daniil Kvyat and George Russell.
A Q3-ban Hamilton jumped over the edge on medium tires, but Bottas did not let go and also went ahead of his teammate on medium tires.
In the final race, Verstappen moved up in second, but Hamilton was still on the fastest lap at the time, as he started for a second lap: the The Briton took the first starting position in the last minute and was 1 tenth of a second ahead of his teammate.
He finished in third place with Max Verstappen finally with Red Bull and Leclerc in fourth place 4 tenths of a second behind Hamilton. From fifth place, Racing Point driver Sergio Pérez will be able to start, Alexander Albon with sixth with Red Bull, followed by two McLaren with Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris.
Ninth place went to Pierre Gasly with AlphaTauri and tenth to Daniel Ricciardo, who was unable to complete a fast lap in Q3 due to a car injury.
