Portuguese Grand Prix – Free Practice 1: Valtteri Bottas leads the way, Red Bulls in ambush

The first 20 minutes

It is on a sun-drenched but slippery track that the 20 single-seaters take their first spins, with initial markers to be quickly grasped by the rookies who are not familiar with the layout.

A Ferrari Driver Academy driver officially makes his F1 debut, F2 vice champion in 2020 behind Mick Schumacher, Callum Ilott borrows Antonio Giovinazzi’s seat at Alfa Romeo for Free Practice 1.

Repairs have been made on the side of Mercedes and Williams following the big crash between Valtteri Bottas and George Russell, repairs estimated at more than one million euros on car number 77.

In turmoil since the start of the season with a car that seems ill-fated, Aston Martin and its drivers are piling up laps and positioning themselves within the same second as the reference time set by Daniel Ricciardo (1:21.821). Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen are closely following the Australian as they are within the same tenth of a second.

On his side, Lewis Hamilton, the most recent winner of this Grand Prix, finds his car undriveable, due to a very slippery track surface.

At midday.

Max Verstappen is looking for the limits of his Red Bull and he finds them, placing himself between the two Mercedes cars of Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton. The other Red Bull is placed nearly a second behind the reference time of Bottas, Sergio Perez, disappointed with his last race weekend in Imola, finds himself in 8th place.

Misunderstanding on the Haas side or Mick Schumacher drops Nikita Mazepin under braking at turn 1. The Russian apparently did not appreciate the maneuver of his German counterpart, who was however on a second fast lap.

Ferrari confirms its good form at the moment by placing 4th and 5th at the midway point, just over half a second behind the best Mercedes. Carlos Sainz seems to be adapting well to driving his new car, as he is ahead of his teammate by a slim tenth of a second.

The last 20 minutes

The drivers put on the red tires and will try to set a quick reference lap. On his first set of soft tires, Max Verstappen experiences severe vibrations to the point where he can hardly see the track according to the radio exchange with his engineer.

As usual, Pierre Gasly places his AlphaTauri at the top of the timesheets, fast in practice and qualifying, but unlucky in the race, the Frenchman is aiming for big points this weekend to catch up with Ferrari. He is ahead of his teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who is discovering the Portimao track.

On the side of the McLaren team, the potential of the orange single-seater may still be somewhat concealed. The two drivers are quietly positioning themselves in the top 10. Coming out of a very good race at Imola, the Woking-based firm is once again aiming for significant points and why not a new podium.

After one hour of testing, Valtteri Bottas set the fastest time of the session (1:19.648), ahead of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez in third. Lewis Hamilton set the 5th fastest time, narrowly beaten by Charles Leclerc.

The timetable.