Verstappen tops as Hamilton comes second in Portimao FP3

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen set two laps quick enough for top spot during final practice for Formula 1’s Portuguese Grand Prix.

Verstappen finished the one-hour session with a best time of 1:18.489s to finish 0.236s clear of title rival Lewis Hamilton at Portimao.

Valtteri Bottas finished in third position for Mercedes while Red Bull’s Sergio Perez took fourth, as Formula 1’s leading two teams grabbed the top positions.

Alpine caught the eye through Friday practice and maintained that speed through Saturday lunchtime’s session.

While Fernando Alonso had a lap time deleted for exceeding track limits, running wide at Turn 1, Esteban Ocon placed fifth overall.

Ocon’s time left him ahead of Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz while Lando Norris was the lead McLaren driver in eighth position.

AlphaTauri fared better than its Friday display, with Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda ninth and 11th respectively, as Alfa Romeo was represented inside the top 10 by Kimi Raikkonen.

In a closely-contested session Daniel Ricciardo and Antonio Giovinazzi took 12th and 13th respectively but were both within 1.1s of pacesetter Verstappen.

Haas has spent 2021 at the back of the grid but Mick Schumacher suggested after Friday practice that he could creep into contention for Q2.

Schumacher delivered on that notion by placing 15th through final practice.

Conversely Aston Martin’s subdued 2021 campaign showed little sign of taking an upturn in fortunes.

Lance Stroll, running the updated AMR21, was only 16th, while Sebastian Vettel could muster only 18th spot.

They were split by Williams’ George Russell, who slipped down the leaderboard compared to Friday, while Nicholas Latifi and Nikita Mazepin capped the order.