Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton topped the times in F1’s first practice session at the Autodromo do Algarve.
As usual Max Verstappen led the opposition for Red Bull. He was separated from team mate Alexander Albon by Charles Leclerc as Ferrari made a strong start at a track which is new to the F1 calendar.Drivers experienced low-grip conditions in the first practice session on the recently resurfaced circuit. Track temperatures began at 24C, and only rose by a few degrees during the 90 minutes of running, which saw a smattering of light rain during the final half hour.
Carlos Sainz Jnr made a strong early showing, but described the low-grip surface as being like “Tokyo Drift”. He spent the initial half hour of first practice two seconds clear of the rest of the field.
The other driver to get a lot of early running in, Verstappen, had a quick spin at turn four. He complained the front wing offset was “completely wrong”, but showed better pace as the session went on.
Both Sainz and Verstappen had early lap times deleted for straying beyond track limits: Sainz at turn four and Verstappen at turn one. The latter’s engineer pointed out to his driver that at this circuit all four wheels of the car needed to be on the kerb, not over it.
Several drivers complained about the lack of grip. Nicholas Latifi, Kimi Raikkonen and Daniil Kvyat were also among those who spun. The Williams driver went off at turn 13, making a very short excursion through the gravel. This corner and the subsequent turn 14 appeared to offer particularly little grip.
Most lap times were set on hard tyres. Some drivers – notably Kvyat – reported graining and seemed to lose grip on the medium compound. The hard appeared better suited to fairly long runs, several drivers setting competitive times after 10 laps.
Despite reporting instability during the session, Albon encouragingly lapped within two tenths of a second of his team mate for fifth. Sainz’s early fast times left him sixth fastest.
Sergio Perez was able to make the most of Racing Point’s upgrades for seventh, also completing the longest run of 13 laps on medium tyres. His team mate Lance Stroll made his return to action after illness ruled him out of the Eifel Grand Prix, and ended the session 15th.
Shortly after his spin, Raikkonen put in the eighth-fastest time of the session, making a rare incursion into the top 10 for Alfa Romeo. Daniel Ricciardo was ninth ahead of Pierre Gasly, who was told to pit with a suspected fault on his AlphaTauri during the session.
After the chequered flag fell Esteban Ocon’s Renault began puffing smoke alarmingly. He was also told to pit, his engineer warning him not to change gear as he returned.
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2020 Portuguese Grand Prix first practice result
2020 Portuguese Grand Prix First Practice classification
Pos. | No. | Driver | Car | Best lap | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’18.410 | 35 | |
2 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’18.749 | 0.339 | 35 |
3 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1’19.191 | 0.781 | 32 |
4 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’19.309 | 0.899 | 33 |
5 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Red Bull-Honda | 1’19.365 | 0.955 | 34 |
6 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | McLaren-Renault | 1’19.441 | 1.031 | 42 |
7 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’19.907 | 1.497 | 31 |
8 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’19.954 | 1.544 | 35 |
9 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 1’20.058 | 1.648 | 27 |
10 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’20.124 | 1.714 | 29 |
11 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’20.200 | 1.790 | 37 |
12 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Renault | 1’20.207 | 1.797 | 29 |
13 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’20.278 | 1.868 | 32 |
14 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’20.846 | 2.436 | 28 |
15 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’20.954 | 2.544 | 32 |
16 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’21.009 | 2.599 | 35 |
17 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’21.169 | 2.759 | 31 |
18 | 63 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1’21.374 | 2.964 | 31 |
19 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Renault | 1’21.673 | 3.263 | 31 |
20 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1’22.054 | 3.644 | 34 |
First practice visual gaps
Valtteri Bottas – 1’18.410
+0.339 Lewis Hamilton – 1’18.749
+0.781 Max Verstappen – 1’19.191
+0.899 Charles Leclerc – 1’19.309
+0.955 Alexander Albon – 1’19.365
+1.031 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’19.441
+1.497 Sergio Perez – 1’19.907
+1.544 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’19.954
+1.648 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’20.058
+1.714 Pierre Gasly – 1’20.124
+1.790 Sebastian Vettel – 1’20.200
+1.797 Lando Norris – 1’20.207
+1.868 Daniil Kvyat – 1’20.278
+2.436 Kevin Magnussen – 1’20.846
+2.544 Lance Stroll – 1’20.954
+2.599 Antonio Giovinazzi – 1’21.009
+2.759 Romain Grosjean – 1’21.169
+2.964 George Russell – 1’21.374
+3.263 Esteban Ocon – 1’21.673
+3.644 Nicholas Latifi – 1’22.054
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
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Jere (@jerejj)
23rd October 2020, 13:08
T15 must be the most useless or at least weirdest corner of choice for track limits policing since the start of all this in Hungary back in 2013. No one goes wide there on dry conditions anyway due to the angle of the turn, racing line, and speed there, so no problem at all. T1 is the only wholly clear-cut and understandable case on this track, although I wonder why the reference suddenly is the white line this time around rather than the curbing (whenever there is one in place) as per usual.
Patrick (@paeschli)
23rd October 2020, 13:24
White line is what it should always be TBH, that’s the track limit.
Mark Zastrow (@markzastrow)
23rd October 2020, 15:43
@jerejj @paeschli It’s true, the sporting regs are very clear that the white line is the track limit and the kerbs are considered off-track. All the previous instances where Masi has declared the kerbs the track limits have been in direct contradiction to the sporting regs.
Having said that, with kerbs as wide as they often are these days, it probably makes more sense to revise the sporting regs to give authorities more flexibility in defining track limits. There are lots of tracks where drivers can and do put all four wheels outside the white line and onto the kerbs, and we all like watching the drivers wrestle with their cars in those situations.
Chaitanya
23rd October 2020, 13:14
Track limits are going to ruin race for a lot of drivers with track surface not rubbering up at usual rate.
Matthijs (@matthijs)
23rd October 2020, 13:28
Mercedes pair lead Verstappen in first practice at *enter any circuit name here*, and you get yourself a headline for practically all sessions this year.
Jason Blankenship (@jblank)
23rd October 2020, 14:03
Yup, true….unfortunately.
papaya
23rd October 2020, 16:18
Breaking!
“Mercedes pair lead George Russell in first practice at xxx”
I guess more realistic hope of replacing the latter than part…
Chaitanya
23rd October 2020, 13:30
Also gap has gone back to “normality” once again.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
23rd October 2020, 14:49
That’s just free practice though.