"It was a brave decision by Bottas"

The key to pole position in Portugal was the tactical choice presented to both Mercedes drivers. For their final run in Q3, Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas were able to choose which tyres and how many laps of fuel they wanted.

Brave decision

Both drivers opted for the medium tyre, but Hamilton got fuel for three laps and Bottas for one lap. “Valtteri had done a great lap in Q2 - the fastest lap of the whole qualifying session. So he felt like he could do it on lap one, ” Mercedes engineer Andrew Shovlin explained to Sky Sports.

Ultimately Bottas doesn't manage to squeeze out that one fast lap, but Hamilton manages to do it again at the last minute. “It's a brave decision for him because you have one shot and if you make a mistake you can't go again, with the tyre can run multiple laps,” said Shovlin.

Small differences

There is little difference in the times of the top three of qualifying, just over two tenths between Hamilton and Verstappen. Shovlin saw that too. “It was really, really close with Red Bull and even the two tyre [soft and medium] are close. It's a different balance and you get different lap times."