2021 Portuguese Grand Prix - Portimão, Apr 30 - May 02

[MtthsMlw]

Tire selection by Pirelli
2x hard - 3x medium - 8x soft (same for every race)


2020 Results
Qualifying


Race




2020 Pole Lap


2020 Race Highlights

[SirBastianVettel]

Last season Red Bull was absolutely no match for Mercedes at this track. I think this race will really give us a good picture of how competitive the RB16B really is compared to the W12.

[haza]

I can see red bull walking away with the win this weekend and it being a 2/3 fight between Mercedes, McLaren and possibly Ferrari for the podium judging by last weekends performance

[SirBastianVettel]

I can see red bull walking away with the win this weekend and it being a 2/3 fight between Mercedes, McLaren and possibly Ferrari for the podium judging by last weekends performance

What makes you think that Mercedes will be in the midfield at this track? I'm personally expecting quite the opposite and think that Red Bull won't be able to bring the fight to Mercedes at this track.

[Wouter]

I'm personally expecting quite the opposite and think that Red Bull won't be able to bring the fight to Mercedes at this track.

Why not?

[El Scorchio]

Red bull will be the fastest car with all things being equal, as they have been all along so far this season, but it’s a question of how close can Mercedes be, and can they use the tyres to their benefit during the race? They can make a performance differential in their favour in certain phases of the race as shown.

[SirBastianVettel]

Why not?

To me it seems that the Mercedes is a lot kinder on its tires. And considering the track characteristics I expect that this will be the main performance differentiator. Last year we saw that even over one lap the medium tires seemed to be faster, despite Pirelli bringing the hardest compounds available. So I expect Red Bull to be strong on Saturday but Mercedes to be superior on Sunday because they are kinder on their tires.

[El Scorchio]

Why not?

To me it seems that the Mercedes is a lot kinder on its tires. And considering the track characteristics I expect that this will be the main performance differentiator. Last year we saw that even over one lap the medium tires seemed to be faster, despite Pirelli bringing the hardest compounds available. So I expect Red Bull to be strong on Saturday but Mercedes to be superior on Sunday because they are kinder on their tires.

They’ll likely need to catch and pass them then. Much easier said than done.

[SirBastianVettel]

They’ll likely need to catch and pass them then. Much easier said than done.

Last year passing wasn’t very difficult at this track because of the length of the straight and the power of the DRS. The wind direction might be an important factor, a head wind on the straight will make overtaking a lot easier than a tail wind.

[El Scorchio]

They’ll likely need to catch and pass them then. Much easier said than done.

Last year passing wasn’t very difficult at this track because of the length of the straight and the power of the DRS. The wind direction might be an important factor, a head wind on the straight will make overtaking a lot easier than a tail wind.

The Red Bull is a very fast car. It won’t be easy for anyone to overtake them, and they will sprint off and build up a quick lead. I think the best chance for Mercedes is going to be round the pit stops. It could be a very interesting strategic battle, like Bahrain.

[SirBastianVettel]

The Red Bull is a very fast car. It won’t be easy for anyone to overtake them, and they will sprint off and build up a quick lead. I think the best chance for Mercedes is going to be round the pit stops. It could be a very interesting strategic battle, like Bahrain.

Agreed. I think Mercedes will have the freedom to either undercut or overcut the Red Bull. It might be that Perez and Bottas will play an important role as well. But if I had to put money on the winner it would be Hamilton for me.

Another factor might be the asphalt. Last year it was a very new track surface that created some unique tire warmup challenges. This year the asphalt should be a little bit easier in that regard.

[mclaren111]

I'm looking forward to Mclaren beating Ferrari in the Best of the Rest fight...

[MKlaus]

mercedes would be a happier car with c1-c2-c3 combination. as mercedes prefers to set their car up for the harder tyres, c3 would be a good tyre for qualifying for them. it would be fun again to have max in the lead, followed by lewis for the race (hopefully both cars come out clean), regardless of the qualifying situation. with mercedes currently holding an edge on tyre life, it should be a good 66 laps scrap.
hope bottas would do a decent race and not become a prey for a williams. hope there would be a light shower to help bottas' case.
hope mclaren and ferrari make decent improvements for this race.
once again, a cooler weather expected for the whole of weekend.

[politburo]

I was hoping there would be fans for this race, given Portugal's corona numbers are quite good, sub-1000 cases and sub-50 fatalities for at least the past 1 and a half months. But I hear that there will be no fans, as was the case with MotoGP. Disappointing.

[El Scorchio]

The Red Bull is a very fast car. It won’t be easy for anyone to overtake them, and they will sprint off and build up a quick lead. I think the best chance for Mercedes is going to be round the pit stops. It could be a very interesting strategic battle, like Bahrain.

Agreed. I think Mercedes will have the freedom to either undercut or overcut the Red Bull. It might be that Perez and Bottas will play an important role as well. But if I had to put money on the winner it would be Hamilton for me.

Another factor might be the asphalt. Last year it was a very new track surface that created some unique tire warmup challenges. This year the asphalt should be a little bit easier in that regard.

Well I’d definitely put it on Hamilton or Verstappen but I really wouldn’t like to call it! But I think Merc will have more flexibility to combat outright pace with strategy which could be the deciding factor. Interesting point about the surface too.

It’s nice not knowing really, isn’t it!