F1 | Free practice analysis – Ferrari, McLaren and AlphaTauri in form at Portimao: Verstappen hammers

Free practice for the Portuguese Grand Prix has just ended. Lewis Hamilton was the fastest driver of the day, stopping the clock in 1: 19.937, trailing Max Verstappen, his direct contender for the world title, by just one tenth. Valtteri Bottas and Carlos Sainz follow by three tenths, demonstrating how the gaps, at the moment, are very narrow not only in the fight in the middle of the group, but also in the gap with the two top teams, without prejudice to the fact that tomorrow they will certainly raise the bar , so beware of dreaming too much.

In his long run, the Dutchman from Red Bull only used the medium compound (C2, Pirelli brings the hardest compounds in its range to Portimao, ed.), constantly hammering between the 23 low and 22 high. He seems to be the favorite so far for Sunday's Grand Prix, but it will obviously be important not to underestimate Lewis Hamilton, author of the fastest lap. However, the Briton had some problems in the second run of his race pace simulation, when he struggled quite a bit to keep up with Verstappen's pace on the mediums. Bottas, on the other hand, is more constant even with the yellows. In the table you will see below you can still have all the information in detail.

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The battle behind Mercedes and Red Bull remains very exciting. Ferrari, McLaren and AlphaTauri they confirm themselves to be very fast on race pace, don't take the times recorded by Gasly, Ricciardo and Norris too seriously, because it's easy not to put together a clean lap in Portimao, especially on Friday when everyone is on the track at the same time. Let's instead see what the race paces of these teams are, also considering the alpine, probably the surprise of the day.

As you can see in our table, Ferrari's start on soft tires is stable on 23 high/24 low, perfectly in line with the average lap times recorded by Gasly and Ricciardo, even if the Australian only completed two laps with that compound, so we can't give 100% certainty about his pace on the softs. Moving on to middle school, Fernando Alonso also comes into play, having completed thirteen passes for Alpine the 23 and 24, with a few 25s placed in the middle probably to avoid putting too much stress on the tire or due to traffic, see above. Sainz and Leclerc confirmed themselves to be very fast with the C2 tyres, doing very well in the final laps on the 23 and that 22 of the Monegasque, replicated right under the checkered flag by Gasly, a symptom of how AlphaTauri, despite the Frenchman's eleventh position today, is absolutely worth keeping an eye on.

To conclude, the fight between Hamilton and Verstappen will certainly be repeated in the race on Sunday too, but watch out for Bottas because he seems really on the ball, everything will depend on seeing where he positions himself on the starting grid and whether he can upset the plans of the title contenders. Competitive Ferrari, confirms itself at McLaren's levels. Let's not give up AlphaTauri and Alpine, without forgetting Aston Martin, not present in the table today, but more or less on the same times as its direct rivals.