The 2021 Portuguese Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Heineken Grande Prémio de Portugal 2021) was a Formula One motor race that took place on 2 May 2021 at the Algarve International Circuit in Portimão, Portugal. The 66-lap race was won by Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton from second. Max Verstappen took second place for Red Bull Racing, with Mercedes's Valtteri Bottas finishing third after starting on pole and rounding out the podium places. This was also the last Portuguese Grand Prix until 2027, as the race was not contracted from to .
Background
The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race. Callum Ilott drove in the first practice session for Alfa Romeo Racing in place of Antonio Giovinazzi, making his Formula One practice debut.
Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the C1, C2 and C3 tyre compounds (designated hard, medium and soft respectively) for teams to use at the event.
Ahead of the Grand Prix organisers announced that a second DRS zone would be available for drivers to aid overtaking. The new DRS zone is established between turns 4 and 5, with the detection point located before turn 4. Unlike the previous edition of the race, the DRS zone located on the main straight was reduced of 120 metres, and the detection point was moved to from turn 14 to after the start of turn 15.
Practice There were three practice sessions, each an hour in length. The first practice session started at 11:30 local time (UTC+01:00) on 30 April. The second practice session started at 15:00 local time on that afternoon and the final practice session started at 12:00 local time on the following day.
The first practice session ended with Valtteri Bottas fastest for Mercedes ahead of the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez. Lewis Hamilton, who had struggled finding a level of comfort in his car during FP1, was fastest in the second practice session for Mercedes, with Verstappen in second and Bottas rounding out the top three.
Qualifying Qualifying started at 15:00 local time (UTC+01:00) on 1 May. Valtteri Bottas set provisional pole in his first Q3 run, while Verstappen's first flying lap was invalidated for exceeding track limits. Ultimately, neither Bottas, Hamilton nor Verstappen were able to improve on their second flying laps, and Bottas kept pole.
Qualifying classification DriverConstructorQ1Q2Q3177 Valtteri BottasMercedes 1:18.722 1:18.458 1:18.3481244 Lewis HamiltonMercedes 1:18.857 1:17.968 1:18.3552333 Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing-Honda 1:19.485 1:18.650 1:18.7463411 Sergio PérezRed Bull Racing-Honda 1:19.337 1:18.845 1:18.8904555 Carlos Sainz Jr.Ferrari 1:19.309 1:18.813 1:19.0395631 Esteban OconAlpine-Renault 1:19.092 1:18.586 1:19.042674 Lando NorrisMcLaren-Mercedes 1:18.794 1:18.481 1:19.1167816 Charles LeclercFerrari 1:19.373 1:18.769 1:19.3068910 Pierre GaslyAlphaTauri-Honda 1:19.464 1:19.052 1:19.4759105 Sebastian VettelAston Martin-Mercedes 1:19.403 1:18.9701:19.659101163 George RussellWilliams-Mercedes 1:19.797 1:19.109N/A111299 1:19.410 1:19.216N/A121314 Fernando AlonsoAlpine-Renault 1:19.728 1:19.456N/A131422 Yuki TsunodaAlphaTauri-Honda 1:19.684 1:19.463N/A14157 Kimi RäikkönenAlfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari 1:19.748 1:19.812N/A15163 Daniel RicciardoMcLaren-Mercedes 1:19.839N/AN/A161718 Lance StrollAston Martin-Mercedes 1:19.913N/AN/A17186 Nicholas LatifiWilliams-Mercedes 1:20.285N/AN/A181947 Mick SchumacherHaas-Ferrari 1:20.452N/AN/A19209Nikita MazepinHaas-Ferrari 1:20.912N/AN/A20107% time: 1:24.232Source:
Race The race started at 15:00 local time on Sunday 2 May. Valtteri Bottas held the lead into turn 1 ahead of Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, Carlos Sainz Jr. and Sergio Pérez. Kimi Räikkönen made contact with teammate Antonio Giovinazzi on the main straight at the end of lap 1 bringing out the safety car. Räikkönen's race was over but Giovinazzi managed to continue without damage.
Race classification DriverConstructorTime/RetiredPoints144 Lewis HamiltonMercedes661:34:31.421225233 Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing-Honda66 +29.148318377 Valtteri BottasMercedes66 +33.530116411 Sergio PérezRed Bull Racing-Honda66 +39.73541254 Lando NorrisMcLaren-Mercedes66 +51.369710616 Charles LeclercFerrari66 +55.78188731 Esteban OconAlpine-Renault66 +1:03.74966814 Fernando AlonsoAlpine-Renault66 +1:04.80813493 Daniel RicciardoMcLaren-Mercedes66 +1:15.3691621010 Pierre GaslyAlphaTauri-Honda66 +1:16.463911155 Carlos Sainz Jr.Ferrari66 +1:18.9555129965 +1 lap12135 Sebastian VettelAston Martin-Mercedes65 +1 lap101418 Lance StrollAston Martin-Mercedes65 +1 lap171522 Yuki TsunodaAlphaTauri-Honda65 +1 lap141663 George RussellWilliams-Mercedes65 +1 lap111747 Mick SchumacherHaas-Ferrari64 +2 laps19186 Nicholas LatifiWilliams-Mercedes64 +2 laps18199Nikita MazepinHaas-Ferrari64 +2 laps20 7 Kimi RäikkönenAlfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari115Fastest lap: Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) – 1:19.865 (lap 65)Source: Notes – Includes one point for fastest lap. Max Verstappen's fastest lap of 1:19.849 on lap 66 was deleted by the stewards for exceeding track limits. – Nikita Mazepin received a five-second time penalty for ignoring blue flags. The penalty made no difference as he was classified in the last position.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Driver Points1 Lewis Hamilton692 Max Verstappen613 Lando Norris37 14 Valtteri Bottas32 15 Charles Leclerc28Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Constructor Points1 Mercedes1012 Red Bull Racing-Honda833 McLaren-Mercedes534 Ferrari42 25 Alpine-Renault13Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
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