Valtteri Bottas completed a clean sweep of all three practice sessions at the Autodromo do Algarve, narrowly leading a Mercedes one-two in final practice.
The final hour of running before qualifying was brought to an early end when a broken drain cover caused the session to be red-flagged.Bottas headed the session by less than three-hundredths of a second from team mate Lewis Hamilton, who went off into the gravel at one point. Behind them a trio of Honda-powered runners completed a close top five.
Max Verstappen, who set his quickest lap time on medium tyres instead of softs, ended the session within two-tenths of a second of Bottas. He was separated from team mate Alexander Albon by Pierre Gasly in the AlphaTauri.
Gasly, whose Friday running was badly disrupted by car problems including a fire, was in great shape after changing chassis overnight. “Very good job guys,” he said after the first run in his repaired car, which his engineers had broken curfew to work on. Despite that, and because he did not have to take any new power unit parts, Gasly has avoided any grid penalties.
Charles Leclerc had another spin on his way to an eventual sixth place. Team mate Sebastian Vettel, who ran over the drain and caused the failure which ended the session, was 11th.
The two Ferraris were separated by the McLaren pair, Sergio Perez’s Racing Point and Esteban Ocon – who had to stop at the pit lane exit when the session was red-flagged. He and team mate Daniel Ricciardo were both delayed by minor technical problems during the session.
The track limits guidance was changed overnight for turns one, four and 15, but it didn’t stop many drivers having lap time deleted for running too wide.
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2020 Portuguese Grand Prix third practice result
Pos. | No. | Driver | Car | Best lap | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’16.654 | 27 | |
2 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’16.680 | 0.026 | 23 |
3 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1’16.812 | 0.158 | 21 |
4 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’16.930 | 0.276 | 24 |
5 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Red Bull-Honda | 1’17.117 | 0.463 | 25 |
6 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’17.229 | 0.575 | 20 |
7 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | McLaren-Renault | 1’17.238 | 0.584 | 24 |
8 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’17.297 | 0.643 | 17 |
9 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Renault | 1’17.478 | 0.824 | 22 |
10 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Renault | 1’17.666 | 1.012 | 20 |
11 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’17.685 | 1.031 | 24 |
12 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’17.720 | 1.066 | 29 |
13 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’17.922 | 1.268 | 20 |
14 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 1’17.935 | 1.281 | 13 |
15 | 63 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1’18.032 | 1.378 | 20 |
16 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’18.100 | 1.446 | 17 |
17 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’18.201 | 1.547 | 20 |
18 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’18.287 | 1.633 | 13 |
19 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1’18.397 | 1.743 | 20 |
20 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’18.454 | 1.800 | 19 |
Third practice visual gaps
Valtteri Bottas – 1’16.654
+0.026 Lewis Hamilton – 1’16.680
+0.158 Max Verstappen – 1’16.812
+0.276 Pierre Gasly – 1’16.930
+0.463 Alexander Albon – 1’17.117
+0.575 Charles Leclerc – 1’17.229
+0.584 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’17.238
+0.643 Sergio Perez – 1’17.297
+0.824 Lando Norris – 1’17.478
+1.012 Esteban Ocon – 1’17.666
+1.031 Sebastian Vettel – 1’17.685
+1.066 Daniil Kvyat – 1’17.720
+1.268 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’17.922
+1.281 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’17.935
+1.378 George Russell – 1’18.032
+1.446 Lance Stroll – 1’18.100
+1.547 Antonio Giovinazzi – 1’18.201
+1.633 Kevin Magnussen – 1’18.287
+1.743 Nicholas Latifi – 1’18.397
+1.800 Romain Grosjean – 1’18.454
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
Pos. | No. | Driver | Car | Best lap | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’17.940 | 32 | |
2 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1’18.535 | 0.595 | 34 |
3 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Renault | 1’18.743 | 0.803 | 35 |
4 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’18.838 | 0.898 | 34 |
5 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | McLaren-Renault | 1’19.113 | 1.173 | 32 |
6 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’19.175 | 1.235 | 34 |
7 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’19.178 | 1.238 | 26 |
8 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’19.308 | 1.368 | 27 |
9 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Renault | 1’19.496 | 1.556 | 32 |
10 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Red Bull-Honda | 1’19.643 | 1.703 | 37 |
11 | 63 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1’19.821 | 1.881 | 33 |
12 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’19.901 | 1.961 | 34 |
13 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 1’19.987 | 2.047 | 28 |
14 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1’20.465 | 2.525 | 33 |
15 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’20.490 | 2.550 | 34 |
16 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’20.680 | 2.740 | 29 |
17 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’20.729 | 2.789 | 33 |
18 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’20.867 | 2.927 | 32 |
19 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’20.983 | 3.043 | 26 |
20 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’21.396 | 3.456 | 34 |
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erikje
24th October 2020, 12:20
Interesting, Ham copied the Bottas setup ( his fp2 setup was wrong) and put in the fastest lap on his first real lap. It took a lot of time for the rest to surpass that.
Ver did the fastest lap on medium, before loosing the time as a result of the track limits.
The differences between the teams are the smallest this year.
So we are in for a very interesting quali!
Manny Maurice (@riggerus)
24th October 2020, 12:28
Where was it reported HAM copied BOT’s setup?
David BR (@david-br)
24th October 2020, 12:38
@riggerus Well, it doesn’t sound impossible. Hamilton’s FP2 set up was way off.
Manny Maurice (@riggerus)
24th October 2020, 13:10
@david-br Also possible that he reverted to his FP1 setup. It’s the absolute certainty with which assumption is routinely relayed as fact in these comment sections that doesn’t sit well with me.
David BR (@david-br)
24th October 2020, 13:24
@riggerus Maybe, but why not use Bottas’s set up if it was better? I don’t see a problem in team mates sharing setups (though maybe they don’t sometimes want to share when they’re ahead, keen to have an edge). It’s a team and exploring different possibilities and later pooling results makes sense as a team. I do have an issue with teams coaching drivers to drive like the other team mate (where they’re braking, cornering etc.) as these are the differences, I think, we all want to see. Different styles and skills. Maintaining that difference also means setups may tend to favour one driver (and their style) more than another.
Rott
24th October 2020, 20:31
Hopeless lies.
Haha. Laugh at you!!!
Srdjan Mandic (@srga91)
24th October 2020, 12:54
That was quite a weird session. Verstappen matching the Mercs, while being on a harder compound (although that might not have been a disatvantage), Gasly very close to them as well and the Ferraris matching the Mercs’ race pace towards the end of the session.
Mercedes should pull away in qualifying with Verstappen right behind them, but who knows what’s the pecking order gonna be behind them?! Alpha Tauri, Ferrari, Renault, Racing Point, McLaren?! Anyone of them could lead the midfield.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
24th October 2020, 13:16
I haven’t seen many marbles, harder tyres are harder than what we would expect for the layout, and what we generally see. Surface is very fresh very smooth, graining is a big problem as tyre temperatures are low. Teams are struggling with getting the most out of the range. Definite 1 stop though, as long as teams deal with the graining the mileage is there.
Merc ran safe on friday no active suspension on the car, after checking the data they are now running it for today, expect to see them bolt away.