[morini]

Vitaly Petrov will be replaced as the FIA Steward for the rest of the Portimao weekend, following news from Russia of his father’s death.

Very sorry to hear about his bereavement.

[forzaferrari]

Very sorry to hear about his bereavement.

Just been reading his father was found by one of his guards and is believed to have been assassinated.

[morini]

Just been reading his father was found by one of his guards and is believed to have been assassinated.

Bloody hell!!

The stewarding wasn't that bad!

[Jody Barton]

Well I think that qualifying was all about getting the tyres into their respective operating windows. Either the red tyres were not warming up, or warming up too much. It's interesting to see Lewis' first lap on the Mediums compared to his second. First lap he didn't seem to have the grip. The second lap it looked like the car was way more responsive.

As to whose fault it was with the drain covers? Yeah, it's down to Masi again. He's responsible for the track inspection, and it wasn't just one lose drain cover. Apparently they've been working through the night to fix it, and it is something any decent inspection should have found.

[morini]

Well I think that qualifying was all about getting the tyres into their respective operating windows. Either the red tyres were not warming up, or warming up too much. It's interesting to see Lewis' first lap on the Mediums compared to his second. First lap he didn't seem to have the grip. The second lap it looked like the car was way more responsive.

TBH Bottas seemed faster "out of the box" all weekend, whenever they were out on track he was usually ahead of LH on the timing sheets. I wonder if the merc drivers have different set ups? We don't know much about how tyres are going to behave on long runs but I have a feeling that generally Hamilton looks towards race day (setup wise) more than Bottas does. SC restarts could be very interesting as the harder compounds will be difficult to switch on.

All of the above could be moot as it's wet there currently and a 75% chance of rain this afternoon.

[morini]

Tip of the hat to Charles Leclerc. Stellar job to qualify just behind max and on the medium tyre as well (he could be a win / podium contender tomorrow).

Leclerc on mediums I did not know that. Impressive drive from Leclerc. Great show of talent.

I should have been a bit clearer on this. Charles Leclerc cleared Q2 on the medium tyre (as did both Mercedes) but he was on the soft tyre for both runs in Q3. I think anyway!

[pennywise]

Well I think that qualifying was all about getting the tyres into their respective operating windows. Either the red tyres were not warming up, or warming up too much. It's interesting to see Lewis' first lap on the Mediums compared to his second. First lap he didn't seem to have the grip. The second lap it looked like the car was way more responsive.

TBH Bottas seemed faster "out of the box" all weekend, whenever they were out on track he was usually ahead of LH on the timing sheets. I wonder if the merc drivers have different set ups? We don't know much about how tyres are going to behave on long runs but I have a feeling that generally Hamilton looks towards race day (setup wise) more than Bottas does. SC restarts could be very interesting as the harder compounds will be difficult to switch on.

All of the above could be moot as it's wet there currently and a 75% chance of rain this afternoon.

[morini]

Did you forget to type there Ian?

I see the drivers having a moan about the pit exit -> https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-dr...t-/4898184

[morini]

Fair bit of cloud around currently, but we might not get rain. Percentages are quite low.

   

Looks really windy too.

[morini]

Watching the pre race buildup and the Sky crew are still maintaining VB was top of every session except Q3. Not accurate as LH was top of Q1 according to the timesheet

Fastest times of each Q session highlighted in yellow