EL1 – The Red Bulls in the wake of Bottas in Portimão

The dual Mercedes/Red Bull continues in Portimão. Neck and neck at the start of the season, the two teams hosted this first free practice session of the Lusitanian weekend.

Often at ease on Fridays, Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) confirmed this by setting the best time in these EL1s with a time of 1’19”648 on soft tyres. At the finish, the Finn is ahead of the two Red Bull drivers with a slight advantage for Max Verstappen on his teammate Sergio Pérez. The three men were only separated by 198 thousandths. Enough to envisage a close fight.

Constantly progressing in recent weeks, Ferrari had a great first outing thanks to Charles Leclerc notably. The Monegasque ranked 4th, 0 seconds behind Valtteri Bottas. Carlos Sainz he settled for 9th time, a little less than 8 tenths behind his teammate.

Difficulty with the balance of his car at the start of the session and forced to return to the pits to make some modifications, Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) finally managed to finish in the Top 5. The reigning world champion completed his fastest lap in 1’19”967.

Sparkling in Imola a fortnight ago, Lando Norris (McLaren) didn't show up much this Friday morning. With 26 laps under his belt, the Englishman finished 8th, almost a second behind Valtteri Bottas' time.

Esteban Ocon (Alpine) for his part takes the last place in the Top 10, ahead of the line Lance stroll (Aston Martin) and Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren), always looking for thrills behind the wheel of the MCL35M.

The veterans were discreet in these EL1s and especially finished far from the leading drivers. Only 14th, Fernando Alonso (Alpine) beat Kimi Räikkönen (Alfa Romeo) and Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin). The three world champions were more than 1″6 behind the leading peloton.

Established in place of Antonio Giovinazzi for these first tests of the weekend, Callum Ilott (Alfa Romeo) could not do better than 17th in front Mick Schumacher (Haas), Nicholas latifi (Williams) and Nikita mazepin (Haas).