F1's top two teams opted for different tyre strategies for the final runs in Q3, with the Mercedes drivers returning to medium tyres with which they had dominated in Q2, and used to top qualifying at Portimao in 2020, while Verstappen stuck with the softs throughout.
But the tyre change did not work for either of the Black Arrows drivers, as Bottas's 1m18.38s that was set on the first Q3 runs on the softs ended up being the pole time.
Both Bottas and Hamilton could not improve on their final efforts, which meant the former's 0.007s advantage from the soft tyre runs gave him his first pole of 2021.
Verstappen had lost his first Q3 saving an oversteer snap to the right as he ran through Turn 4 and beyond the track limits onto the back straight and so was under extra pressure for the final runs.
In Q1, Daniel Ricciardo suffered a shock exit ahead of Aston Martin's Lance Stroll, with Norris putting the other McLaren second in the opening segment, which featured Alonso spinning exiting the penultimate corner and Perez losing the rear running through Turn 4 and spinning through the gravel on the exit.
Ricciardo and Stroll not finding enough time on their final efforts in Q1 preserved Russell's perfect record of getting through to Q2 at all three races so far in 2021, as they failed to jump ahead of the Williams.
But it was Ocon's late jump to fourth on his last lap that meant Ricciardo could not progress.
At the back, Nicholas Latifi led the two Haas cars, with Mick Schumacher finishing ahead of Nikita Mazepin.
Standings:-
| 2021 F1 PORTUGUESE GRAND PRIX - QUALIFYING RESULTS | ||||||
| POS. | DRIVER | NAT. | TEAM | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
| 1 | Valtteri Bottas | FIN | Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team | 1m18.722s | 1m18.458s | 1m18.348s |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | GBR | Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team | 1m18.857s | 1m17.968s | 1m18.355s |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | NED | Red Bull Racing | 1m19.485s | 1m18.650s | 1m18.746s |
| 4 | Sergio Perez | MEX | Red Bull Racing | 1m19.337s | 1m18.845s | 1m18.890s |
| 5 | Carlos Sainz | ESP | Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow | 1m19.309s | 1m19.142s | 1m19.039s |
| 6 | Esteban Ocon | FRA | Alpine F1 Team | 1m19.092s | 1m18.586s | 1m19.042s |
| 7 | Lando Norris | GBR | McLaren F1 Team | 1m18.794s | 1m18.481s | 1m19.116s |
| 8 | Charles Leclerc | MON | Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow | 1m19.373s | 1m18.769s | 1m19.306s |
| 9 | Pierre Gasly | FRA | Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda | 1m19.464s | 1m19.052s | 1m19.375s |
| 10 | Sebastian Vettel | GER | Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team | 1m19.403s | 1m18.970s | 1m19.659s |
| 11 | George Russell | GBR | Williams Racing | 1m19.797s | 1m19.109s | |
| 12 | Antonio Giovinazzi | ITA | Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen | 1m19.410s | 1m19.216s | |
| 13 | Fernando Alonso | ESP | Alpine F1 Team | 1m19.728s | 1m19.456s | |
| 14 | Yuki Tsunoda | JPN | Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda | 1m19.684s | 1m19.463s | |
| 15 | Kimi Raikkonen | FIN | Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen | 1m19.748s | 1m19.812s | |
| 16 | Daniel Ricciardo | AUS | McLaren F1 Team | 1m19.839s | ||
| 17 | Lance Stroll | CAN | Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team | 1m19.913s | ||
| 18 | Nicholas Latifi | CAN | Williams Racing | 1m20.285s | ||
| 19 | Mick Schumacher | GER | Uralkali Haas F1 Team | 1m20.452s | ||
| 20 | Nikita Mazepin | RUS | Uralkali Haas F1 Team | 1m20.912s | ||
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