F1 2021 Portuguese Grand Prix - Full Starting Grid at Portimao
How the F1 grid lines up for the 2021 Portuguese Grand Prix, with Mercedes locking out the front row of the grid for the first time this season…
| 2021 F1 Portuguese Grand Prix - STARTING GRID | |||
| Pos. | Driver | Nat. | Team |
| 1 | Valtteri Bottas | FIN | Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | GBR | Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | NED | Red Bull Racing |
| 4 | Sergio Perez | MEX | Red Bull Racing |
| 5 | Carlos Sainz | ESP | Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow |
| 6 | Esteban Ocon | FRA | Alpine F1 Team |
| 7 | Lando Norris | GBR | McLaren F1 Team |
| 8 | Charles Leclerc | MON | Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow |
| 9 | Pierre Gasly | FRA | Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda |
| 10 | Sebastian Vettel | GER | Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team |
| 11 | George Russell | GBR | Williams Racing |
| 12 | Antonio Giovinazzi | ITA | Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen |
| 13 | Fernando Alonso | ESP | Alpine F1 Team |
| 14 | Yuki Tsunoda | JPN | Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda |
| 15 | Kimi Raikkonen | FIN | Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen |
| 16 | Daniel Ricciardo | AUS | McLaren F1 Team |
| 17 | Lance Stroll | CAN | Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team |
| 18 | Nicholas Latifi | CAN | Williams Racing |
| 19 | Mick Schumacher | GER | Uralkali Haas F1 Team |
| 20 | Nikita Mazepin | RUS | Uralkali Haas F1 Team |
Valtteri Bottas bounced back from a disastrous Emilia Romagna Grand Prix and worst start to an F1 season since joining Mercedes to claim his 17th career pole position at Portimao.
The Finn made Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton wait to secure his 100th F1 pole by topping qualifying for the first time in 2021, having pipped the seven-time world champion by just 0.007s.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was disappointed to only be third after having his first lap of Q3 - which would have been good enough for pole - deleted for track limits, before traffic ruined his final run.
Verstappen has Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez joining him on the second row of the grid, while Carlos Sainz scored his best qualifying result since joining Ferrari in fifth.
Starting from sixth is Esteban Ocon, who starred to seal a breakthrough qualifying result for Alpine ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.
AlphaTauri driver Pierre Gasly will go from ninth, while Sebastian Vettel lines up 10th on the Portimao grid after making his first Q3 appearance for Aston Martin.
Towards the back of the grid, McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo starts from a lowly 16th after suffering a shock elimination in Q1.
Ricciardo is only ahead of Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin, Williams driver Nicholas Latifi and the two Haas rookies of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin.
The third round of the 2021 F1 season is se to begin at 1500 local time (1500 BST).
Lewis regularly attends Grands Prix for Crash.net around the world. Often reporting on the action from the ground, Lewis tells the stories of the people who matter in the sport.
