Today's free practice session saw Max Verstappen signing the best lap in 1:18.489 with his Red Bull. The Dutchman signed multiple fast laps on soft tyres. His teammate Sergio Perez too had a good session, closing in fourth position, with a 0.351 delay from Verstappen, and a car that seems more reliable than in the previous races.

Close at the top 😲 Max ends FP3 fastest with a 1:18.489 and Checo is P4 with a 1:18.840 💪 #PortugueseGP 🇵🇹 pic.twitter.com/40KwTjKcES

— Red Bull Racing Honda (@redbullracing) May 1, 2021

Sandwiched between the Red Bull drivers are the Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton secured p2 with a 1.18.725,  with Valtteri Bottas having only a tenth off his lap, after toppling yesterday's first session. 

The "best of the rest" was Esteban Ocon, who briefly topped the timesheet with his 1:18.860, in an Alpine that keeps showing improvements after the first tough races. Fernando Alonso had a fast lap cancelled because of track limits, and had to settle for P14.

First driver on track was Lance Stroll on his Aston Martin. The Canadian tested some upgrades and ended the session in P16, slightly ahead of his teammate Sebastian Vettel.

Both Ferrari drivers went on track on the red compound and finished in the top ten, with Charles Leclerc in p6 with a 1.19.00.01 and Carlos Sainz close in p7.

The top ten was completed by Norris, Gasly and Raikkonen, with less then a second of delay from Verstappen.

There was a Virtual Safety Car because the wind blew over one of the advertising hoardings early in the session. 

Many drivers had troubles with the warm up of the tyres, because of the rather cooler conditions compared to yesterday's track conditions; and some of them spun, like both Haas drivers, Raikkonen and Norris, who had issues in Turn 3.

It's looking very close 👀@Max33Verstappen tops the final practice session, with the @MercedesAMGF1 drivers in P2 and P3 👊#PortugueseGP 🇵🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/zPH0WoZ4MA

— Formula 1 (@F1) May 1, 2021