The third round of the 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship began with training on Friday at Autodromo Internacional do Algarve as a team preparing for the Portuguese Grand Prix on Sunday.
Two 60-minute sessions – FP1 and FP2 – on the 4.653-kilometer circuit with 15 corners were held under partly cloudy conditions, as only the second Formula 1 race weekend takes place on the Portimao circuit – the first was only six months ago in October 2020.
Both Mazepin and Schumacher got to work immediately when the pit lane opened. Both drivers were looking for grip at the beginning of the first RP as a very green track was waiting for the field. The running plans were identical for the two VF-21s – a wake-up stint on the mid-size Pirelli P Zero Yellow tires, followed by baseline laps with new sets of the red soft compound – on which both drivers set their respective best times. Schumacher drove a lap of 1: 21.929 and finished 18th. Mazepin scored a 1: 24.224 for 20th overall. The morning trip ended with a final stint on the used softs – both drivers covered 29 laps each in the session.
The lap times went down in FP2 as the track slowly began to rubberize. Schumacher drove a short stint with medium tires before screwing on a number of softs for a qualifying simulation – a best lap of 1: 21.537 from the F2 champion. He ended his track time on a high-fuel run, using the white hard tire for the first time, before pitting for his earlier softs. Mazepin started the session on the tough terrain before switching to softs for a qualifying simulation – a 1: 22.638, the rookie’s fastest run. It was followed by a 10-lap high-fuel stint on the media before a final box hit the softs to end the session. In the checkered Schumacher sat with Mazepin in 18th place on the timesheet.
Uralkali Haas’ F1 team drove a total of 115 laps over FP1 and FP2 on Friday – 57 from Mazepin and 58 from Schumacher.
Nikita Mazepin: “If you take all the tracks we visit in F1 and F2 on average, this is one of the least grippy tracks – which is a bit of a shame as the layout is really cool. If you could walk one.” A little faster and with a little more self-confidence it would be nice. We have what we have. The grip builds up with all the laps we do. It’s good. There are fine lines here and in that regard I think we had a good Friday. There’s still a lot to be extracted and it’s important tomorrow. “
Mick Schumacher: “It was definitely a lot more slippery than I’m used to, but it was fun. We had a very lively car out there, it brought back memories of F3 and go-karting. It was interesting. The track is pretty impressive and pretty intense. It wasn’t difficult to build trust here, it’s just about getting a clean lap and that’s very difficult when the car is hard to drive, I think we get into a window where it is I am also more comfortable with a lively car. If we do our job, which we always do, we should be in a good window for qualifying tomorrow. “
Günther Steiner: “It was a good FP1 and FP2 for us because we drove a lot of laps – 115 in total, I think. That’s good because the drivers had to drive a lot. We learned that the conditions weren’t easy on the track was a bit slippery and the wind picked up quite a bit in FP2. But it was the same for everyone, I know. Overall it was a good session. Hopefully we can pick up what we are learning tomorrow and make progress from there. I’m pretty happy with the day. “
Check out our Portimao Friday Gallery here.
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