2020 F1 Portuguese Grand Prix: Qualifying - As it happened

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After returning to the Nurburgring last time out for the Eifel Grand Prix, Formula 1 returns to Portugal with Portimao hosting its maiden grand prix this weekend.

After Portimao, F1 returns to Imola for a unique two-day race weekend before going to Turkey for the first time since 2011.

High-speed and a considerable amount of undulation, Portimao will surely be another favourite amongst the current crop of drivers.

The Eifel GP proved to be a decisive one in the race for this year's drivers' title as Lewis Hamilton claimed another victory - his 91st overall, moving him level with Michael Schumacher in the all-time statistics.

As Hamilton stormed to the victory, Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas was forced to retire prematurely due to a power unit issue meaning the Finn languishes 69 points behind in the drivers' championship - all but ending this year's drivers' championship battle.

Max Verstappen secured another podium in second ahead of Daniel Ricciardo - who scored his first podium since moving to Renault.

In terms of the constructors' championship, Racing Point moved ahead of McLaren in the race for third, with Renault in striking distance.

The battle for third place looks like it will go down to the finale in Abu Dhabi.

What to expect from this weekend?

Pirelli has nominated the C1, C2 and C3 tyres for this weekend - the hardest tyre compounds available to Pirelli in its range.

Despite the race taking place in mid-October, conditions are expected to be fairly warm at 18-21 degrees Celcius across the race weekend.

Mario Isola, Pirelli's head of F1 said: "For the first time, we head into a double-header featuring two circuits that are new to Formula 1 in its hybrid era: starting with Portimao, which makes its grand prix debut. Although Formula 1 has never raced there before, we have some experience of this track through GT and world superbikes, which gives us a good idea of what to expect. It's an absolutely spectacular venue and we think the drivers will love racing there.

"Portimao is quite demanding on tyres and this could be accentuated by warm weather, which is why we have brought the three hardest compounds. We've also adjusted the standard tyre allocation this weekend, with the drivers getting an extra set of hard and one less set of soft. In FP2, the drivers will try out next year's 13-inch tyres for the first time during the opening half-hour of the session. As usual this will be a 'blind' test, so the drivers won't know exactly what they are sampling."