Valtteri Bottas was the fastest in both sessions at Portimao while incidents took place up and down the grid. Lance Stroll and Max Verstappen had a significant crash in FP2, disrupting both of their sessions.
Mercedes lead the way
The first session was business as usual for Mercedes, a dominant 1-2, 0.7s away from the nearest competitor. After heartbreak in Germany, Bottas bounced back taking 1st in both sessions. Hamilton took 2nd in FP1, 0.3s behind. However, the reigning champion fell back in FP2 finishing 8th. The Briton was not able to find the perfect balance with his W11 and may be on the back foot heading into Qualifying.
Their nearest challenger was, predictably, the Red Bull of Max Verstappen. The Dutchman came 3rd in FP1, 0.7s adrift. He closed the gap to 0.5s in FP2, but did manage to finish 2nd, despite a crash with Stroll. Both drivers swiftly learnt that two into one does not go and crashed going into turn 1. They have both been placed under investigation. Albon was an encouraging 5th in FP1, before falling back to 10th in the second session.
Ferrari fight back
Charles Leclerc finished 4th in both sessions. This follows recent news that the team have found a solid amount of time with recent upgrades. Vettel could only manage 11th in FP1, but improved to 6th in FP2.
McLaren were the next highest placed team. Sainz took 6th in FP1 and improved further, taking 5th in FP2. Norris had a slow start with 12th, but the Briton took an impressive 3rd in the second session. McLaren lost 3rd in the standings to Racing Point in Germany and they look to be in a prime position to take it back.
Messy Midfield
From here, the times became very tight. Gasly took the 7th fastest time overall, but had to retire from FP2 early as his Alpha Tauri ignited, destroying his car. His team-mate was not able to tune his car as successfully, finishing out of the top 10 in both sessions. Racing Point had a mixed Friday, both cars went backwards at the day went on. Perez was a solid 7th, but ended up 12th. Stroll was a disappointing 15th in FP1, but the controversial crash in FP2 left him 19th. Williams started slow, but will be satisfied with their end result. Russell took 11th ahead of Latifi in 14th. The newly acquired team are still looking for their first points of 2020 and Portugal appears an encouraging prospect.
Rounding out the grid
Both Haas drivers are counting down their final F1 sessions and neither were able to create any headlines. Magnussen managed to break out of the last 15 in FP1, but the drivers sunk to 16th and 18th in FP2. Raikkonen was an encouraging 8th initially while team-mate Giovinazzi was 16th. However, both cars fell to the bottom 5 in FP2. Giovinazzi finished the day last.
A new track provides new difficulties. Friday practice is the perfect opportunity to iron out the creases. However, as Verstappen and Stroll showed, racing may provide some new challenges.
Featured Image Credit: @F1 Official Twitter
