Verstappen Racing finishes Portimão FP1 outside the top ten as Audi and BMW impress

After Thursday’s test day, Friday’s schedule was packed, starting with the first free practice session. Verstappen was sent out straight away to complete the opening laps. The track was busy from the outset, so Verstappen immediately had to manage traffic. It did not go entirely smoothly: on his first lap, he immediately spun the #25 Audi.

Neither car sustained any damage, so both were able to continue in the session. Verstappen then began setting lap times, with his first coming in at 1:43.046. He was around three tenths off the #32 BMW M4 GT3 Evo, which Kelvin van der Linde was driving at the time. Verstappen completed at least sixteen laps during his morning stint, making him the most productive driver on the grid in the first half hour. The team clearly gave him plenty of track time to build up more experience.

Verstappen continued driving until the 47th minute of the session, then handed the wheel to Chris Lulham. At that point, Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing was P16 on the timing sheet. Three BMWs led the order, with the #32 WRT BMW at the front. Van der Linde handed the car over to Jordan Pepper, who kept it in P1 with a 1:42.647. Jake Dennis in the #98 ROWE Racing BMW joined him in P2.

Max Hesse, who shares the car with Valentino Rossi, completed the top three at that point. With half an hour remaining, Audi also entered the fight. The #99 Audi of Tresor Attempto Racing moved to within a small margin of WRT with a lap of 1:42.686. With 27 minutes on the clock, Christopher Haase in the #84 Audi changed the order, surging to P1 with a 1:42.643. The track was evolving quickly as temperatures began to rise.

As in Formula 1, the teams worked through different run plans to prepare for both qualifying and the race. That meant completing long and short runs, analysing tyre degradation and, of course, practising driver changes. As a result, the times did not change dramatically once the fastest runs had been recorded. Audi and BMW topped the timesheets just before the closing stages. The fastest Mercedes at that point was the #17 GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3, with Fabian Schiller at the wheel, on a lap of 1:42.795.

In the final twenty minutes, Lulham handed the wheel to Ben Barnicoat. By then, Verstappen Racing had completed 36 laps—the most of any team at that point. The Briton came into the pits shortly before the end. Verstappen was put back in the car for the final few laps to the chequered flag, and possibly for some qualifying runs. Race control also used the final minutes to run through procedures such as a Full Course Yellow (FCY).

Nothing had happened on track; it was simply an opportunity for everyone to run through what happens during an FCY situation, in case one occurs in another session. Once the FCY was lifted, Verstappen went out for another lap but did not improve his time. Verstappen Racing finished the session in P20, with a fastest lap of 1:43.046. In total, Barnicoat, Lulham and Verstappen completed 42 laps, putting in plenty of valuable mileage on Friday morning. The second free practice session starts at 13:45 and can be followed live on GPblog.