Exciting qualifying for the Portuguese Grand Prix! Who took pole position?

Qualifying for Sunday’s Portuguese Grand Prix is now a thing of the past and as always it was a thrilling qualifying session right up to the very end. How did it go and what can we expect in Sunday’s race?

Not surprisingly, Nikita Mazepin, who will start the race from the very back of the grid, did not advance from the first part of qualifying. Alongside Mazepin will be Mick Schumacher. The Haas cars once again round out the starting grid.

Latifi in the Williams also failed to qualify for the second part of the qualifying, starting eighteenth ahead of Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin. The big surprise in Q1 came from McLaren. Daniel Ricciardo failed to qualify at all and will start from 16th position! The blame can also be laid at the feet of a failed strategy, with both McLaren cars going into the first part of qualifying on medium compound tyres.

Kimi Räikkönen failed to progress from the second part. The experienced Finn will start Sunday’s Portuguese Grand Prix in fifteenth position ahead of Tsunoda and the experienced Fernando Alonso in the Alpine.

Twelfth on the grid was Antonio Giovinazzi in his Alfa Romeo. Another superb qualifying result went to Williams. George Russell confirms his quality and also that he has been really successful so far in Portimão.

A positive result after a long time for Sebastian Vettel, who managed to qualify for the third part. The four-time world champion will start from the number 10 position. Ninth in qualifying was Pierre Gasly in the Alpha Tauri.

He was beaten by his teammate Charles Leclerc in the number 8 starting position. Teammate Carlos Sainz was, in his own words, in a very positive mood and brought his Ferrari to fifth place at the start. The McLarens are not doing too well in Portugal. Lando Norris is the only representative in the top ten and will start seventh.

Esteban Ocon is three thousandths of a second behind Carlos Sainz in fifth. Alpine could be the dark horse in Sunday’s Grand Prix, as they have been performing perfectly so far at the Algarve circuit and have the right speed indeed.

The two Red Bull cars will both start from the second row. Although there seemed to be a sense of contentment in the garage of this stable immediately after qualifying, a very upset Verstappen was third after Q3. The latter had been complaining about the behaviour of his monoposto all weekend, losing his fastest time due to exceeding the track limits, much like Lando Norris had done two weeks ago.

The front row belongs to the Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton will start from second place, seven thousandths of a second behind his teammate Valtteri Bottas. For the Finnish Mercedes driver, it’s finally a positive result again.

A solid battle awaits us on Sunday, and not just between the two Mercedes. We can count on both Red Bulls making a hard charge for the top positions. The Portuguese Grand Prix with its official name F1 Heineken Grande Prémio De Portugal starts at 4pm.

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