Round 12 of the 2020 FIA Formula One World Championship will see teams race in Portugal for first time in 24 years. Not since 1996 has there been a Portuguese F1 Grand Prix, although the country has had its own GP since the 1950s. In its first 10 years it was run on a street circuit and then, from 1984 until 1996, at the Estoril circuit. The poor condition of the track led to it being dropped as a F1 venue when the government was slow in making the required improvements.
However, the twelfth round is not being held at 48-year old Estoril circuit but the newer Algarve International Circuit, referred to as the Portimao Circuit as it is close to the city of that name.
2011.09.17. Grid girls at Portimao circuit.
It has been added to the 2020 calendar as one of the circuits available in view of others being closed or conditions not suitable due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Formula 1 Portuguese GP at Portimao in 2020.
There is no certainty that the Portimao Circuit will be used again in future.
Portimao is a modern venue with elevation change baked into its layout.
The Ricardo Pena-designed 4.6-km lap sends drivers swooping up hill and down dale, before culminating in a plunge down to the final right-hander at Galp leading back onto the pit straight.
WTCC at Portimao in 2010. Grid girls take a swim.
While the track itself is a world-class facility, its location in the Algarve puts you squarely in one of Europe’s most popular tourist destinations – such a nice area, in fact, that it’s where Ayrton Senna chose to set up his European home, just an hour down the coast from the track in Almancil.
Watching F1 cars come steaming into the double-apex, Acque Minerali-evoking Portimao corner is a sight to be seen, while parking yourself at any of the stands at the end of the main straight will give you a great view of the Turn 1 overtaking hotspot.
The visit to Portimao is only the second venue that Formula 1 has not raced at before – and the drivers are loving it.
For most of them, it’s a brand new circuit, certainly in F1 machinery. Lewis Hamilton took part in an official test back in 2009 for McLaren, but the only other running has been private or in junior categories. So it didn’t take long for the stunning Algarve International Circuit to make an impression on Friday.
Blind corners, a number of undulations and strict track limits means a cracking weekend of action is surely in store.
Six-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton said: “it’s massively challenging, the undulations are incredible. There’s a lot of places where you can’t see where you’re going. The exit of Turn 8, you’re looking at the sky for a period of time and you have no idea what’s beyond the hill. Also into Turn 11, you don’t know where you’re are and all of a sudden it arrives at you out of nowhere.”
Sebastian Vettel declared his appreciation for the circuit: “I think [it's] slippery… mostly because of the resurfacing but it’s very smooth. It’s quite a nice track, I’ve never been here before, my first day. I like it, I think tomorrow will be better just waking up and knowing where you need to go. It’s good. It’s probably proof that we have plenty of tracks that are exciting, we just need to pick the right ones!”
After a strong day in the SF1000, Charles Leclerc called it an ‘’amazing’’ venue: “it is extremely slippery, the rear of the car is moving everywhere but that makes it even better I think, but the track itself is amazing! It took quite a few laps to get into the rhythm because we don’t see any apexes but once you get into the rhythm then it feels very good.”
A new track surface led to the lower grip levels and McLaren's Lando Norris – who has previously tested at Portimao – admits he’d like to be able to push an F1 car even more. “It is good fun, it’s just different compared to a lot of [tracks],” Norris said. “Nurburgring I liked a lot because of how up and down the cambers are on the corners. Here the camber is more off-camber as opposed to on-camber. Compared to the cambered corners at the Nurburgring which are cool and give you a lot of grip, the off-camber corners here give you a lot less grip and makes it tricky. But at the same time the track’s cool because it’s a good mixture of high-speed, low-speed, quite up and down - a lot more than most tracks - so it’s cool in a Formula 1 car. I just wish we had a little bit more grip, that’s all.”
Despite a dramatic fire on his AlphaTauri in FP2, Pierre Gasly said the track is “really cool”. “To be fair it was really cool. The first few laps when I went out I got this feeling you get in the stomach when you’re in a rollercoaster! So after Turn 8, going uphill and downhill I got this same feeling and I was like ‘whoa!’ – I never felt that in a Formula 1 car! I must say it’s quite challenging, a lot of blind corners, high-speed, low-speed, combined braking, so it’s quite unusual in a way. I like it when tracks are unique and I think it is, so it was pretty cool.”
Away from the praise for the track, a lot of drivers were struggling to find the sweet spot with their cars.
After finishing P2 in the opening session, Lewis Hamilton found the afternoon session more difficult. “FP1 was probably the better session for me even though the car didn’t feel that great,” he said. “Then we made some changes into this one and it felt pretty terrible in FP2. We need to take a few steps back to figure out where we went wrong with the setup and see if we can improve for tomorrow. It’s really difficult to get the tyres in the window for the first lap here, even with the Soft. Naturally, they are hard tyres, it’s the hardest range of tyres on the circuit like this, it should be expected I would say.’’
Max Verstappen felt Red Bull improved in FP2 but is looking for further improvements. “It was quite tricky out there and the new tarmac seems slippery with only one proper line to use as you lose a lot of grip if you run wide. The wind also picked up in the afternoon but overall I think we improved the car from FP1 to FP2 so it all felt a little bit nicer to drive. We will keep trying to improve even further as there are still things we can do better around here.’’
Charles Leclerc finished 4th in both sessions and believes Ferrari are looking good for qualifying. ’The grip level didn’t improve much throughout the sessions, which should make for an exciting race. Today looked quite good for us and, mainly on the qualifying side, it was fairly promising. Let’s wait and see though, as we haven’t had much high-fuel running with normal tyres, as we did some with the prototype-tyres instead. Running with high fuel was actually our weakness at the last race, so it’ll be a bit of a surprise on Sunday and we’ll see where we are."
F1 Portuguese GP Algarve International Circuit, Portimao, Valtteri Bottas during practice. Pool via REUTERS Armando Franca.
Fastest man in both FP1 and FP2, Valtteri Bottas had this to say: ‘’it’s been a good day today. The sun was shining, this is a great track for driving; it could definitely be worse! The balance of the car was also pretty good. I was mainly struggling in the slow-speed corners with the rear end of the car but it is not too far away from where I want it, as the lap times would also suggest. But as always, there will be more work to do tomorrow.’’
Getty images.
The sweeping layout of the circuit has made it a drivers' favourite.
While the circuit has never hosted a F1 race, it has been used as a test venue for F1 teams on three occasions. Within two months of its completion, Ferrari and McLaren conducted a 2-day test; a month later, McLaren and Toyota came, followed by Renault, Toro Rosso and Williams.
A lot of ups and downs.
The hillside circuit to the north of the city has been likened to a scaled down Spa-Francorchamps, as it is defined by frequent changes of elevation. The track features a wide variety of corners and also a long pit straight that measures almost a kilometre in length. A number of blind corners also call to mind Austin’s Circuit of the Americas.
“On paper, the track layout itself should suit higher downforce levels but, because of the long main straight, we’re likely to see teams trialling different wing settings in practice to decide where the compromise is – being faster in the corners or protecting yourself on the long straight,” said Mercedes-AMG’s Toto Wolff. “We’re expecting overtaking to be tricky in Portugal due to the flowing nature of the track and lack of heavy braking zones. The only DRS zone is on the main straight and the quick final corner will make it harder for cars to keep a tight gap. The zone itself is very long, so this should give drivers the chance to close up on their rivals,” he explained.
This being a new venue, there is an absence of historical data to call upon. So achieving the perfect car set-up will be tricky and complicating matters is the fact that the entire track has been resurfaced for its first ever F1 race this weekend.
To best cope with the uncertain demands of the layout and the new surface, Pirelli is providing the hardest tyres in the range. The C1 compound will feature as the white-banded hard tyre, the C2 as the yellow medium and the C3 as the red soft tyre.
The 100,000 capacity Algarve International Circuit (Portuguese: Autódromo Internacional do Algarve), commonly referred to as Portimão Circuit, is a 4.692 km (2.915 mi) race circuit located in Portimão, Portugal. With a total cost of €195 million (approximately $250 million), the project includes a karting track, technology park, five-star hotel, sports complex and apartments.
Construction was finished in October 2008 and the circuit was homologated by both the FIM on 11 October 2008 and the FIA two days later.
The circuit was designed by Ricardo Pina, Arquitectos. In October 2010 the teams agreed to add the Portimão Circuit to the Formula One testing roster along with Bahrain.
In September 2013, the company that manages the circuit, Parkalgar Serviços, was taken over by Portugal Capital Ventures, which is a Portuguese state-owned venture capitalist, effectively placing the circuit under state management. The sale was forced by the debts accumulated by Parkalgar Serviços, believed to be approximately 160 million Euros.
The circuit resembles old Nürburgring and Spa-Francorchamps, mainly because of its constantly undulating nature. A1 Team Portugal's driver Filipe Albuquerque observed that there are big downhill slopes and right-hand turns after the main straight. He also commented that the track is good for overtaking because of the circuit width. A1 Team New Zealand's driver Earl Bamber observed that there are many special turns with personality. He commented that the new circuit is a little bit dangerous like the old school circuits with a roller coaster ride.
World superbike at Algarve in 2019.
AIA VIP tower sold out for SBK World Championship in Portimão. Jornal diari Online Southern-Region.
Vip tower.
In August 2020 it was announced that the circuit would host the MotoGP Portuguese Grand Prix from 20 to 22 November, as part of a revised calendar arising from the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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