THE F1 season continues with the Portuguese Grand Prix on the sunny Algarve.
Lewis Hamilton is in control of the Driver’s Championship after victory in Germany last weekend, but teammate Valtteri Bottas will be out for revenge.
Follow all the latest from Portugal with our blog below…
FP2 IS DONE
Bottas tops the session. The Finn gets his weekend off to a great start after leading both sessions.
Lewis Hamilton was second-quickest in FP1 one was only eighth in FP2 in a session wrecked by two safety cars.
Verstappen, who caused one of the red flags after clashing with Lance Stoll, was P2 and Lando Norris in P3.
FIVE MINUTES TO GO
And it is Bottas, Verstappen, Leclerc, Vettel, Gasly, Hamilton, Russell, Albon, Norris and Perez in P10.
But this session has been hampered by the Pirelli test and two red flags.
TRACK IS OPEN
The pitlane light goes green and we have a little over seven minutes remaining.
STILL, THE RED FLAG IS OUT
But the session time is ticking down. When FP2 does get under way, it will be another frantic one.
CRASH STROLL AND VERSTAPPEN COLLIDE – RED FLAG
That is a BIG mistake from Stroll, who clatters in to the Red Bull man. Crazy stuff.
The Canadian could be in for a penalty here.
BUSY TRACK
Less than 30 minutes to go and it is a busy track as drivers look to complete their programmes.
Bottas currently quickest from Verstappen.
WE ARE GO AGAIN
After Gasly’s car is cleared, the track is open and the session is back on.
Mercedes’s Hamilton and Bottas are first out on track.
GASLY’S CAR IS ON FIRE – RED FLAG
Session has been stopped…
The Frencham pulled over quickly and his AlphaTauri caught fire. The blaze quickly erupted.
There was a delay before marshals go there to extinguish the blaze.
HAMILTON NOT HAPPY ON THESE TYRES
He has complained about too much vibration. He comes in to pit. He’s had enough of them.
Mercedes will now feed all the info back to Pirelli and their engineers working on next year’s car.
SO FAR SO GOOD
A spin for Carlos Sainz, but no other dramas yet on these unknown tyres. It is all pretty nerdy but it is important for both Pirelli and the teams to get some understanding of next year’s tyres.
FP2 IS GO
And this will be a strange one as for the first part of this session, the teams will be using prototype Pirelli tyres for next season.
So plenty of running, but the teams won’t actually know what compounds they are running.
CUTTING CORNERS
Watch how Max Verstappen span out during P1 while taking on the elevation at turn four.
The 23-year-old recovered to finish the session third fastest.
THE STANDINGS
Take a look at the results from the first practice session in Portugal.
Mercedes unsurprisingly take the 1-2 with Verstappen and LeClerc third and fourth fastest.
FP 1 IS DONE
Good start for Mercedes, as Bottas leads Hamilton in a 1-2 finish for the session.
That man Verstappen again makes up the top three while Leclerc is in P4.
Albon P5 and Sainz in P6.
Plenty of running although early signs are that there won’t be too much overtaking on Sunday.
30 MINUTES TO GO
And Hamilton is topping the time sheets from Leclerc and then Perez. Bottas currently in P4.
So a solid start from Mercedes, as expected, but also from Ferrari.
Vettel in P7 as Ferrari seem to have found some pace in their upgrades for this race.
PROBLEMS FOR RUSSELL AND VERSTAPPEN
Both drivers have yet to set competitive lap times but should both be out on track soon.
SPIN FOR LECLERC
The Ferrari man also suffers from a lack of grip and almost beaches his car in the gravel.
So far Hamilton tops the timesheets from Gasly.
FP1 IS GO
And it is an early start for Carlos Sainz, who complaining of a lack of grip in his McLaren.
Hardly surprising given the lack of action on the track.
Big issue too is the track limits – there are some areas with plenty of run off, which encourages drivers to run wide on the track.
But if they do that, they could have their lap times deleted by the stewards.
PET PEEVE
Lewis Hamilton has blasted the FIA’s decision to hire Vitaly Petrov as a steward for this weekend’s Portuguese Grand Prix after the Russian’s outspoken remarks.
Last month, the former F1 racer was quoted by Russian publication Championat, criticising Hamilton’s anti-racism stance as being “too much”.
Petrov is also quoted as saying “let’s say a driver admits to being gay – will they come out with a rainbow flag and urge everyone to become gay as well?”
SunSport put those quotes to Hamilton ahead of this weekend’s race and the world champion said he was shocked to see him appointed by the FIA as part of their four-man panel who effectively referee the race.
He said: “I have not seen all the quotes, and you have just recited some of them.
“Of course, it is a surprise to see that they are hiring someone who has those beliefs and is so vocal about things we are trying to fight against.
“You should take it up with the FIA because there is nothing I can particularly do about.”
Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
