F1 LIVE | Portuguese Grand Prix - FP1
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The Formula 1 weekend in Portugal has officially begun, and we kick off with the first free practice session. How will Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen do in the first session at the circuit of Portimao? We will see the first signs of that today.
Liveblog - FP1
Hamilton and Verstappen start on roughly equal footing
In Imola Verstappen came out on top. He took a convincing victory, while Lewis Hamilton made up for lost time in a race that nearly ended in the gravel trap for him. It seems as if we will be in for a season-long battle.
The rivals go into the weekend with just one point difference in the standings. How the weekend will go is impossible to predict, as the differences between Red Bull Racing and Mercedes seem very small. Even qualifying has proved to be an all but predictive factor so far. On top of that, we may see how the rivals' teammates fare against each other: will Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez give each other a hard time?
The midfield
It's still early days, but currently, the top four drivers in the Championship standings all compete for four different teams. It's expected that Bottas and Perez will work their way up the leaderboard, but we still predict Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc will be racing against each other all season for the best of the rest position. Ferrari and McLaren will be renewing their rivalry in 2021.
Pierre Gasly has looked strong in his AlphaTauri but has only scored six points in the two races. Aston Martin looked much improved in Imola, but Sebastian Vettel is still yet to score a point for his new team.
The lights in Portimao go green at 11:30, and practice can be followed live through GPblog's liveblog.