Time for a quick break, so we will be back at 14:30 BST before qualifying starts at 15:00 BST. Back soon.

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

Image source, Getty Images

Max Verstappen emerged fastest for the first time at the Portuguese Grand Prix this weekend as he headed Lewis Hamilton in final practice.

The Dutchman turned the tables after Mercedes were quickest in both sessions on Friday to beat Hamilton by 0.18 seconds.

The second Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas was third quickest, just 0.095secs behind Hamilton, with Red Bull’s Sergio Perez fourth a further 0.02secs adrift.

All the drivers struggled in the final part of the session as they were doing their qualifying preparation runs, barely able to improve on runs they had done earlier in the session.

Esteban Ocon further emphasised an apparent improvement for Alpine by going fifth quickest ahead of Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, and the Frenchman’s team-mate Fernando Alonso would have been up there, too, but for a fractional track-limits offence at the first corner.

Lando Norris, after his impressive performance at the last race in Imola, was only eighth fastest, ahead of the Alpha Tauri of Pierre Gasly and Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen.

• 11. Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri, +0.996)
• 12. Ricciardo (McLaren, +1.093)
• 13. Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo, +1.099)
• 14. Alonso (Alpine, +1.46)
• 15. Schumacher (Haas, +1.544)
• 16. Stroll (Aston Martin, +1.601)
• 17. Russell (Williams, +1.638)
• 18. Vettel (Aston Martin, +1.725)
• 19. Latifi (Williams, +2.192)
• 20. Mazepin (Haas, +2.201)

1. Verstappen (Red Bull, 1:18.489)
2. Hamilton (Mercedes, +0.236)
3. Bottas (Mercedes, +0.331)
4. Perez (Red Bull, +0.351)
5. Ocon (Alpine, +0.371)
6. Leclerc (Ferrari, +0.512)
7. Sainz (Ferrari, +0.561)
8. Norris (McLaren, +0.783)
9. Gasly (Alpha Tauri, +0.885)
10. Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo, +0.926)

Jolyon Palmer
Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra

Where have Alpine come from this session? Are they going to be the dark horses of qualifying?!

Three practice sessions and three different drivers at the top of the times.

It was Valtteri Bottas in session one, Lewis Hamilton in session two and now Max Verstappen in session three.

The Red Bull man holds off the Mercedes pair, finishing 0.236 clear of Hamilton and 0.331 ahead of Bottas.

Sergio Perez in fourth, Esteban Ocon fifth before the Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc in sixth and Carlos Sainz in seventh. Lando Norris, Pierre Gasly and Kimi Raikkonen complete the top 10.

Verstappen quickest with a minute to go.

Jolyon Palmer
Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra

It's been a torrid time for Aston Martin - and in particular Sebastian Vettel. He just doesn't look comfortable. He has had a lot of bad luck at the start of his run with the team, but it's not helpful as a big signing.

Nikita Mazepin has improved, but is still the slowest of the 20, but now less than a tenth off Nicholas Latfii. The Russian though ploughs his way through the gravel after a spin.

Sebastian Vettel's move to Aston Martin has not gone the way he or anyone else would have been expecting.

He started the Bahrain Grand Prix at the back after getting a five-place penalty for not respecting yellow flags and only came 15th, then didn't finish at Imola.

Vettel is down in 18th at the moment.

"It's that last sector. I lose everything in that last sector every time. A lot of oversteer."

Jolyon Palmer
Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra

What are we looking at for qualifying? Lewis Hamilton has improved by a couple of hundredths but is still second behind Max Verstappen by two tenths. It's almost like they need to fuel the drivers for three or four flying laps.

Which means, they are going to have to use one set of tyres in Q3, if that's the case, because they won't have time to it, to get the tyres really fired up. It's just not working very quickly.

Ten minutes to go...

1. Verstappen (Red Bull, 1:18.545)
2. Hamilton (Mercedes, +0.18)
3. Bottas (Mercedes, +0.275)
4. Perez (Red Bull, +0.295)
5. Ocon (Alpine, +0.315)
6. Leclerc (Ferrari, +0.456)
7. Norris (McLaren, +0.727)
8. Gasly (Alpha Tauri, +0.829)
9. Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo, +0.87)
10. Sainz (Ferrari, +0.907)
11. Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri, +0.94)

Jolyon Palmer
Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra

The teams are still trying to work out what is the best way to handle these soft tyres on a qualifying simulation run. The learning is really difficult out there...

Haas are facing another tough weekend. The very, very, very wealthy Nikita Mazepin, who only finished fifth in Formula 2 last season before being promoted to the big league, continues to look absolutely completely miles out of his depth.

He is 3.885 seconds off Max Verstappen, but a shocking 2.1 seconds slower than team-mate Mick Schumacher. Haas have taken the money, but are at risk of becoming a laughing stock this season.

Rob, Brighton: Lewis' pole at Monza in 2017 always stands out for me. A masterful lap in the wet to finish over a second ahead of a very fast Red Bull, silence the Tifosi and break Michael Schumacher's pole record. Not a bad days work eh?

Image source, Getty Images

Jolyon Palmer
Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra

We are certainly going to see some medium tyre running in qualifying - we are expecting it in Q2 from the front-running drivers.

But the way everyone has just gone soft, soft in this session, I think even the midfielders are going to try and get into to Q3 on that medium tyre.

I think the mediums will be the preferred choice of everyone - not just the front three.

Alpine came ninth and 10th last time out in Imola and they may well be expecting better this time. Esteban Ocon is fourth quickest, better than both Ferraris, both McLarens and the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas.

Is Fernando Alonso a shock contender for pole later on? He shoots up to second, but then instantly falls all the way back to 12th as he had exceeded track limits at turn one, but it shows he has the pace to surprise, if he can nail a legal lap.

This season has been brilliant so far. Another seven and a half months like this would be great.