Two points came back consistently in the F1 drivers’ feedback from their first two practice sessions at Autodromo do Algarve.
First: The unusual layout, in particularly its steep drops and high climbs, makes from an invigorating departure from the norm, such as largely flat circuits like Sochi.Second: The track surface offers very little grip. Which, in that respect, is quite similar to the home of the Russian Grand Prix.
So much so that some teams expect drivers will have to do extra laps to prepare their tyres during qualifying. “Hopefully we’ll see the grip come up a bit tomorrow but it’s quite far off the first timed lap today,” said Renault’s chief race engineer Ciaron Pilbeam.
“So I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s still some prep laps out there tomorrow. It tends to come to you a bit during qualifying but I think it’s quite a long way off the first timed lap today, so we might see some prep laps tomorrow which is a bit of a new thing. I don’t think we’ve seen that for a while now.”
Curiously, teams found they were able to get better initial grip on the hard tyre in first practice. However the track surface may improve quickly as the cars lay more rubber tomorrow and into the race.
Two significant disruptions in second practice meant we didn’t get a completely clear picture of how competitive the various teams are. But there’s little reason to doubt Mercedes are the team to beat as usual. Valtteri Bottas topped both sessions while Lewis Hamilton tried a different set-up direction in the afternoon and discovered it was not the way to go.
Around an 85 second lap of the Nurburgring, Red Bull were less than two-tenths of a second away from Mercedes two weeks ago. They were particularly strong in the slow first sector, and Algarve has more low-speed corners. Lap times at the Portuguese track are already under 78 seconds, so perhaps we will see an even closer contest for pole position this weekend.
Fortunately for Verstappen, he doesn’t have a grid penalty to contend with following his collision with Lance Stroll in second practice.
Ferrari began the weekend well following the latest update to their SF1000. Encouragingly for Sebastian Vettel, he ended the day only three-tenths of a second behind Charles Leclerc, which is better than he’s managed in recent races.
Meanwhile AlphaTauri, who are entertaining hopes of beating Ferrari to sixth in the constructors’ championship, had a difficult start to the weekend. Pierre Gasly had technical problems in both sessions, and it remains to be seen whether his fire in second practice will require the addition of new power unit parts and lead to a penalty.
Quotes: Dieter Rencken
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Combined practice times
| Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | Total laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’18.410 | 1’17.940 | 67 |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1’19.191 | 1’18.535 | 66 |
| 3 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Renault | 1’20.207 | 1’18.743 | 64 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’18.749 | 1’19.308 | 62 |
| 5 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’19.309 | 1’18.838 | 67 |
| 6 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | McLaren-Renault | 1’19.441 | 1’19.113 | 74 |
| 7 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’20.200 | 1’19.175 | 71 |
| 8 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’20.124 | 1’19.178 | 55 |
| 9 | Alexander Albon | Red Bull-Honda | 1’19.365 | 1’19.643 | 71 |
| 10 | Esteban Ocon | Renault | 1’21.673 | 1’19.496 | 63 |
| 11 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1’21.374 | 1’19.821 | 64 |
| 12 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’19.907 | 1’19.901 | 65 |
| 13 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’19.954 | 1’20.490 | 69 |
| 14 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 1’20.058 | 1’19.987 | 55 |
| 15 | Daniil Kvyat | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’20.278 | 1’20.729 | 65 |
| 16 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1’22.054 | 1’20.465 | 67 |
| 17 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’20.846 | 1’20.680 | 57 |
| 18 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’21.169 | 1’20.867 | 63 |
| 19 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’20.954 | 1’20.983 | 58 |
| 20 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’21.009 | 1’21.396 | 69 |
Fastest sector times – second practice
| Driver | Car | Sector 1 | Sector 2 | Sector 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 22.503 | 29.978 | 25.459 |
| Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 22.734 | 30.165 | 25.636 |
| Lando Norris | McLaren-Renault | 22.634 | 30.278 | 25.831 |
| Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 22.857 | 30.246 | 25.575 |
| Carlos Sainz Jnr | McLaren-Renault | 22.75 | 30.228 | 26.058 |
| Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 22.969 | 30.279 | 25.775 |
| Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Honda | 22.737 | 30.433 | 25.848 |
| Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 22.62 | 30.252 | 26.02 |
| Esteban Ocon | Renault | 23.064 | 30.441 | 25.946 |
| Alexander Albon | Red Bull-Honda | 22.904 | 30.434 | 26.13 |
| George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 23.13 | 30.817 | 25.874 |
| Sergio Perez | Racing Point-Mercedes | 23.313 | 30.465 | 26.123 |
| Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 23.135 | 30.856 | 25.996 |
| Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 23.131 | 30.817 | 26.517 |
| Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 23.303 | 31.037 | 26.15 |
| Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 23.348 | 30.862 | 26.47 |
| Daniil Kvyat | AlphaTauri-Honda | 22.965 | 30.518 | 26.217 |
| Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 23.468 | 30.96 | 26.396 |
| Lance Stroll | Racing Point-Mercedes | 23.186 | 30.828 | 26.333 |
| Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 23.578 | 30.97 | 26.096 |
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