Bottas nips Hamilton in final Portuguese GP practice
Valtteri Bottas, who was fastest in both Friday practice sessions, made it 3-for3 on Saturday morning to top final practice for the Portuguese GP with a lap of 1m16.654s.
That was enough to just beat his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton by 0.026s. All fast laps were set on the soft red tires.
Max Verstappen was 3rd quick for Red Bull Honda a close 0.158s back and are medium tires, so assuming no one is sandbagging at Mercedes, Verstappen has a real chance for pole.
Pierre Gasly was 4th quick for AlphaTauri 0.276s behind Bottas while Alex Albon rounded out the top-5 in the 2nd Red Bull 0.463s back – also on Medium tires.
The session ended 1-minute earlier than planned when a drain cover came loose in Turn 14.
Practice 3 Times
| POS | NO | DRIVER | CAR | TIME | GAP | LAPS |
| 1 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:16.654 | +0.000s | 27 |
| 2 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:16.680 | +0.026s | 23 |
| 3 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing Honda | 1:16.812 | +0.158s | 21 |
| 4 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri Honda | 1:16.930 | +0.276s | 24 |
| 5 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Red Bull Racing Honda | 1:17.117 | +0.463s | 25 |
| 6 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:17.229 | +0.575s | 20 |
| 7 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | McLaren Renault | 1:17.238 | +0.584s | 24 |
| 8 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point Mercedes | 1:17.297 | +0.643s | 17 |
| 9 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren Renault | 1:17.478 | +0.824s | 22 |
| 10 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Renault | 1:17.666 | +1.012s | 20 |
| 11 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:17.685 | +1.031s | 24 |
| 12 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | AlphaTauri Honda | 1:17.720 | +1.066s | 29 |
| 13 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari | 1:17.922 | +1.268s | 20 |
| 14 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 1:17.935 | +1.281s | 13 |
| 15 | 63 | George Russell | Williams Mercedes | 1:18.032 | +1.378s | 20 |
| 16 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point Mercedes | 1:18.100 | +1.446s | 17 |
| 17 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari | 1:18.201 | +1.547s | 20 |
| 18 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas Ferrari | 1:18.287 | +1.633s | 13 |
| 19 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams Mercedes | 1:18.397 | +1.743s | 20 |
| 20 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas Ferrari | 1:18.454 | +1.800s | 19 |