Bottas pips Hamilton in tight final practice at F1 Portuguese GP

Valtteri Bottas completes Portuguese GP practice clean sweep by heading Mercedes F1 teammate Lewis Hamilton in a tight FP3 session at Portimao, as Red Bull close in...
Valtteri Bottas (FIN) Mercedes AMG F1 W11.
Valtteri Bottas (FIN) Mercedes AMG F1 W11.
© xpbimages.com

Valtteri Bottas maintained his flying start to Formula 1’s Portuguese Grand Prix by topping the third and꧅ final practice session, but Mercede🦄s teammate Lewis Hamilton closed in.

Both Mercedes drivers suffered wide moments throughout FP3 but it was Bottas who ultimately set the pace to top all three practice ꦓsessions at the Algarve circuit.

Bottas posted a 1m16.654 to edge out Hamilton by 0.026s during the qualifying simulations, with the world championship leader sliding through t💟he gravel after losing control of his W11 at Turn 8 on hꦿis final flying effort.

Hamilton had also gone two-tenths faster than anyone else in the mi🌼ddle sector on his previous run but a lock 🍃up at Turn 14 cost him time as he failed to improve, suggesting he has more pace to come in qualifying.

Max Ver💖stappen was third-quickest and just 0.158s off Bottas’ benchmark despite running on the slower Medium compound, which will act as encouragement for Red Bull.

The Dutchman also had the outright faste𒅌st time of the session deleted for a track limits infringement at Turn 1.

AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly split the﷽ Red Bull du💞o in fourth with a strong lap on Softs, as the under-pressure Albon rounded out the top five with a time that three-tenths slower than what his teammate managed.

Charles Leclerc once ꦑagain featured inside the top six for Ferrari, while Carlos Sainz, Sergio Perez, Lando Norris and Esteban Ocon completed the topﷺ 10 for McLaren, Racing Point and Renault.

A late red flag for a loose drain cover that was dislodged by Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari hampered a numb🍨er of drivers plans to complete a late qualifying simulation run.

Daniel Ricciardo was one of those to lose out as he ended up 14th, after🍃 DRS issues prevented the Renault driver putting in a low-fuel run prior to the session end.

FULL FINAL PRACTICE RESULTS FROM THE 2020 F1 PORTUGUESE GP.

Read More