After giving us a great race last year with highly visible elevation changes and good side-by-side racing, Formula 1 returns to Portimao, or the Algarve International Circuit, this weekend. Set in the south of Portugal, Portimao is located near a seaport which is its namesake. The Portimao circuit is said to have several characteristics in terms of layout and elevation changes that are similar to COTA . The region was also where Ayrton Senna chose to make his European home.
Red Bull will be approaching the weekend with optimism as they know, once they can put together a clean race weekend, they have a car and drivers that are capable of taking a 1-2 finish. Look for Red Bull to have a shot at the win here and perhaps put two cars on the podium. We can expect what has come to be the norm for AlphaTauri which is to have one car finish in the points and the other finish close behind but just outside the points.
Elsewhere on the grid, while it is not yet safe to say Mercedes is no longer the team to beat, Red Bull certainly has them on their toes right now. We can expect the next battle to be between a McLaren and a Ferrari who are relieved to regain pace from last year. Challenging them will be an Alpine who should have an Aston Martin nipping at its heels, though certainly not where the pre-season expectations had that team. Following them and likely out of the points we will find the Alfa Romeo duo who will be split by one of the Williams cars. Rounding out the order we should look for the second Williams car followed by Haas with their woefully underdeveloped car and rookie drivers.
US TV SCHEDULE
Practice 1 – Friday, April 30 – 6.25AM –
ESPNU
Practice 2 – Friday, April 30 – 9.55AM –
ESPNU
Practice 3 – Saturday, May 1 – 6.55AM – ESPN2
Qualifying – Saturday, May 1 – 9.55AM – ESPN2
Grand Prix Sunday – Sunday, May 2 – 8.30AM –
ESPN
Portuguese Grand Prix – Sunday, May 2 – 9.05AM
ESPN
Checkered Flag (post-race) – Sunday, May 2 – ESPN3
CIRCUIT INFORMATION
Direction: Clockwise
Turns: 15
Race laps: 66
Lap Distance: 4.653km (2.891 mi)
Race Distance: 307.098km
Longest Straight: 969m
Top Speed: 328kph
Average Speed: TBDkph
Lap Record:
TBD
Full throttle: 52.5%
Downforce Level: High
Cooling Requirement: Medium
Typical Strategy: 1 Stop Race
Pitlane Length: TBCm
Tyres: Hard (C1), Medium (C2), Soft (C3)
2020 RESULTS
Race Info.
Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1:16.652
Race laps: 66
Fast race lap: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1:18.750
Podium
1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
2. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes
3. Max Verstappen, Red Bull
CURRENT STANDINGS
Drivers
1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 44
2. Max Verstappen, Red Bull, 43
3. Lando Norris, McLaren, 27
4. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, 20
5. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, 16
6. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari, 14
7. Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren, 14
8. Sergio Perez, Red Bull, 10
9. Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri, 6
10. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, 5
11. Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri, 2
12. Esteban Ocon, Alpine, 2
13. Fernando Alonso, Alpine, 1
14. Kimi Raikkonen, Alfa Romeo, 0
15. Antonio Giovinazzi, Alfa Romeo, 0
16. George Russell, Williams, 0
17. Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin, 0
18. Mick Schumacher, Haas, 0
19. Nikita Mazepin, Haas, 0
20. Nicholas Latifi, Williams, 0
Constructors
1. Mercedes, 60
2. Red Bull, 53
3. McLaren, 41
4. Ferrari, 34
5. AlphaTauri, 8
6. Aston Martin, 5
7. Alpine, 3
8. Alfa Romeo, 0
9. Williams, 0
10. Haas, 0
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