F1 Starting Grid 2021 Portuguese Grand Prix Race at Portimao

F1 Event: Portuguese Grand Prix
Race Track: Portimão Circuit

Start time: 16:00 CET | 15:00 UK | 07:00 LA | 23:00 Tokio

As always there will be a lot of drivers who are happy and sad about their qualifying performance today.

Valtteri Bottas, Sergio Perez, Carlos Sainz, Esteaban Ocoan, Sebastian Vettel will probably by happy with their grid position for tomorrow’s 2021 Portuguese Formula One Grand Prix.

Vettel out at last out-qualified his Aston Martin team mate Lance Stroll while Sergio Perez only was 0.1 sec. slower than his very quick and 8 years younger team mate Verstappen.

Sainz out-qualified his new still new Ferrari team mate for the first time as Ferrari driver and Bottas even was able to break down an almost fairy tale story of Hamilton scoring his 100th pole on the day former pole king Ayrton Senna lost his life back in 1994.

The rest of the starting grid you can find below.

F1 Starting Grid 2021 Portuguese GP

Pos No Driver Team Lap Time Pole gap Tyres
1 77 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:18,348 M (C2)
2 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:18,355 +0,007s M (C2)
3 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:18,746 +0,398s M (C2)
4 11 Sergio Pérez Red Bull 1:18,890 +0,542s M (C2)
5 55 Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari 1:19,039 +0,691s S (C3)
6 31 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:19,042 +0,694s S (C3)
7 4 Lando Norris McLaren 1:19,116 +0,768s S (C3)
8 16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:19,306 +0,958s M (C2)
9 10 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 1:19,475 +1,127s S (C3)
10 5 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 1:19,659 +1,311s S (C3)
11 63 George Russell Williams 1:19,109 +0,761s Free
12 99 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 1:19,216 +0,868s Free
13 14 Fernando Alonso Alpine 1:19,456 +1,108s Free
14 22 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:19,463 +1,115s Free
15 7 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo 1:19,812 +1,464s Free
16 3 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 1:19,839 +1,491s Free
17 18 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:19,913 +1,565s Free
18 6 Nicholas Latifi Williams 1:20,285 +1,937s Free
19 47 Mick Schumacher Haas 1:20,452 +2,104s Free
20 9 Nikita Mazepin Haas 1:20,912 +2,564s Free

2021 Portuguese F1 GP Race Strategy

The 66-lap Portuguese Grand Prix is likely to be a one-stopper, for two key reasons: firstly because the time lost in the pit lane here is too costly to make a two-stopper work, and secondly because wear and degradation on all the compounds seems quite low. With the Portimao circuit being reasonably wide and presenting plenty of overtaking opportunities (as proved by last year’s race) the tyre nomination here should allow the drivers to push hard and deliver a lively race.

The low wear and degradation should also create quite a wide pit stop window, meaning that the teams will be able to adapt their strategies to take advantage of the best possible moment to make their stops, ensuring track position. As usual, the timing of the stops will also depend on track and air temperatures – which are likely to be similar to today, or perhaps slightly warmer.

2021 Portuguese F1 GP Race Notes

  • Valtteri Bottas claimed pole ahead of his Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton, with Red Bull third and fourth. The Mercedes drivers were the only ones to select the P Zero Yellow medium tyre for their final runs in Q3, but they both set their fastest times on their first runs, using the Red soft.
  • During the Q2 session, which determines which starting tyres the top 10 on the grid will use, most drivers headed out on the medium, with just six starting the session on the P Zero Red soft. In the end, five drivers in the top of the grid will start on the medium tomorrow including the top four: both Mercedes, both Red Bulls, and the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.
  • The gusting winds seen yesterday persisted today influencing the qualifying sessions and slowing down the track towards the end of the hour. Weather conditions were also similar to yesterday, with qualifying ending in temperatures of 19 degrees ambient and 34 degrees on track.

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