Bottas beats out Hamilton to take surprise pole for Portuguese GP

Valtteri Bottas has taken pole position for the Portuguese Grand Prix ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton, with Max Verstappen starting on the second row after managing the third fastest time.

The Finn finished with the fastest time of the session, 1:18.348, which was only 0.007 seconds ahead of Hamilton, who couldn't improve on his time during his final lap.

Elsewhere Verstappen, who saw an impressive lap early in Q3 deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 4, did manage to register a lap late in the session, but it was only good enough for third despite Red Bull using the soft tyres compared to Mercedes' choice for medium.

Sergio Perez and Ferrari's Carlos Sainz round out the top five, with Esteban Ocon starting sixth after impressing for Alpine.

Lando Norris starts seventh ahead of the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, while Pierre Gasly and Sebastian Vettel start in row five after the German made it out of Q1 for the first time this season.

Q2

Hamilton set the pace and finished 0.490 seconds up on teammate Bottas with Mercedes looking particularly impressive. Norris made sure at least one McLaren made it through to Q3 with the third fastest time, with Ocon doing the same for Alpine

That's because Fernando Alonso could only manage the 13th fastest time, which will no doubt disappoint the Spaniard given his performance during practice on Friday.

George Russell will start 11th after an impressive showing for Williams, while Antonio Giovinazzi got the better of Alfa Romeo teammate to claim 12th with the Finn starting in 15th.

Yuki Tsunoda, who was unable to make it out of Q1 in Italy, will start 13th.

Q1

Perez brought out a quick yellow flag after spinning into the gravel on the exit of Turn 4, but in the end the Mexican managed to get through the session with ease.

The major talking point came in the closing stages as Daniel Ricciardo was knocked out after finishing 0.042s behind George Russell for 15th. It's the Australian's first Q1 elimination since the 2019 Japanese Grand Prix.

He wasn't the only surprise elimination as Lance Stroll could only manage the 17th fastest time, a far cry from teammate Vettel who comfortably moved on to Q2.

Nicholas Latifi will start 18th for Williams while the Haas duo of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin make up the back row after recording the 19th and 20th fastest times respectively.