Formula 1: Free practice for the GP Portugal in Portimao

• Lukas Gorys

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  Valtteri Bottas is doing his training laps in a Mercedes in Portimao.

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  Just like his teammate and world championship leader Lewis Hamilton.

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  Max Verstappen trains in the Red Bull on the Portuguese asphalt.

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  Lance Stroll im Racing Point-Mercedes.

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  The Australian Daniel Ricciardo trains in the Renault.

In 1996 in Estoril, the Canadian Jacques Villeneuve in a Williams won ahead of teammates Damon Hill and Schumi (Ferrari). And in 1985 a certain Ayrton Senna on Lotus captured his first of 41 GP victories there in the rain.

A year earlier, at the debut in Estoril, the closest title decision of all time came. Niki Lauda (died in May 2019) won in 1984 by half a point over his McLaren TAG Turbo team-mate Alain Prost.

Back to the present. On the course opened in Portimao in 2008. And just a year later, Formula 1 came over in winter. But of the four days of testing, three drowned in the rain. Now only the prognosis for Sunday is bad.

For most drivers, Portimao is new territory, which they got to know in the last few days on the simulator. Except for record man Kimi Räikkönen (324 races): “I don’t have this track on my home simulator!”

Some drivers were already in action in the lower series on the Atlantic. Yes, Daniel Ricciardo (30) even won the British Formula 3 champion there in 2009.

The Australian has to wait until the break between Turkey and Bahrain so that he can give his Renault boss Cyril Abiteboul a tattoo. The boss had said he would get a tattoo after the first podium for the French. “I have two motifs to choose from,” laughs the Nürburgring third.

The first training session, mostly a boring thing, was upgraded a bit after 14 minutes by a spectacular spin by Max Verstappen (23) in the Red Bull Honda. In front of thousands of fans. Later the Dutchman also lost a lot of oil on the slopes … In the end, however, the third place in the World Championship was third behind the Mercedes duo! As usual …

After just a few minutes, World Championship leader Lewis Hamilton (35) took command in the Mercedes – only 0.127 seconds slower than Charles Leclerc (23) in the Ferrari.

Until after an hour, Hamilton hunter Valtteri Bottas (69 points back) took command. The Finn continues to believe that he can spit in the soup of his British colleague. Although he is behind after race victories 2: 7 and after pole position 3: 8 …

«We are developing our car further. We want to be on the second or third row of the grid on a regular basis in 2020 ”, reveals the Monegasse. This time a new diffuser is supposed to take the lame horses from Maranello away from the 6th World Championship place.

And Mercedes? Boss Toto Wolff: “We stopped developing our car weeks ago. Full throttle into the year 2021. ” Sure, both world titles are already in the towel.

For Sebastian Vettel (33), who will move to Aston Marin in 2021, the motto for the last six races is clear: “Before I turn to the next chapter, I want to end the old one with dignity. I do everything I can to remove the obstacles that keep me from giving what I can and getting back to my usual shape by the end of the season!

The four-time Red Bull World Champion from 2010 to 2013 is currently 13th in the World Championship – 46 points behind Leclerc (8th). It goes without saying that there is criticism.

At Alfa-Sauber, everything is geared towards the qualification on Saturday from 3 p.m. (TV live). And boss Frédéric Vasseur is already optimistic about the race on Sunday from 145.10: “We scored points on the two other nine courses in Mugello and on the Nürburgring!”

Places 8 (Raikkonen) and 16 (Giovinazzi) in the first training course open the doors to hope. And the Finn once again showed that he is still full of lust and joy! Or over a second faster than the Italian.