The Algarve International Circuit in Portimão featured on the real life F1 calendar in 2020 and 2021, and has been on the game as a real life or just extra track since F1 2021. It’s got a mixed reception with fans, but I personally really like the circuit and enjoy racing there.

It’s another one of those circuits with a bit of everything – lots of twisty low and medium speed sections, but also a massive long pit straight, and you’re on full throttle for quite a long time from exiting the penultimate corner to turn 1.

Therefore you need a compromise between straight line speed and cornering grip/downforce, and most car setups round here run a medium downforce level.

Here’s a general baseline dry race setup for Portugal for a controller user:

• Wings – 27/30
• Diff – 50/55
• Camber – -2.50/-1.00/0.02/0.25
• Suspension –  19-5-10-2-35-39
• Brakes – 100 Pressure/55 Bias
• Tyre pressures – Fronts 22.2/Rears 20.1

This setup is partially adapted from the excellent SimRacingSetups YouTube channel Portugal setup, but with some adjustments for pad users, since he uses a wheel and setups doesn’t translate over perfectly from a wheel to a controller.

Detailed Setup Considerations

Here’s some extra analysis and commentary on developing an ideal race car setup at Portugal.

Wing levels

27/30 wings seems like quite a bit lower than you’d expect looking at the track layout at Portugal, but you need to keep some straight line speed with that long straight, which is also a DRS zone.

Going a bit higher with the wings and using something like 30/33 can feel better especially around the twisty sections, but you’ll leave yourself more vulnerable to overtakes on the massive pit straight. And you’ll also deplete your ERS even more quickly than it already does using higher wings.

Therefore dropping the wings a few clicks from what might be “optimal” for single lap pace is actually standard practice on F1 23, as it delivers better overall race performance and allows better attacking and defending.

Lower wing settings over-powered on F1 23 – demonstrated

Wing spacing

This is really a track where a heavily “understeery” setup is needed for stability in longer races. Putting the rear wing 2 clicks above the front is standard for me using a pad on this game, but at Portugal, I go one higher and put the rear wing 3 clicks above the front for even more stability.

Whilst you can put the wings closer together for better turn in and cornering, you’ll find it’s much harder to control consistently throughout a race, especially with the very responsive handling of the controller on F1 23. On this track, you need a car that doesn’t over-rotate, because of all the tricky traction zones.

Intermediate Conditions

For intermediate conditions, your dry setup will still work OK, but you can also add 1-2 clicks of wing for more grip in sectors 2 and 3, but I’d also keep the 3 click spacing if using a pad. It’s also advised to reduce your on throttle differential to 50 if it’s not already there for easiest traction, as it’s already difficult in the dry here and becomes even more tricky in the wet. Also bump the front and rear ride height up 1-2 clicks.

Full Wet Conditions

When it’s time for the blue full wet tyre, I’d add 3-5 more clicks of wing to really help in the twisty sections. And because the traction is so tricky especially at that turn 8/9, you might even want to space the wings even further apart using a pad and put the rear wing 4 clicks higher than the front for even more stability.

This might seem extreme, but racing in full wet conditions here, it’s really about getting to end while others don’t in online racing. Use whatever wing spacing allows you to lap consistently without spinning off, and you’ll do well relative to your competition in lobbies.

Here would be the full wet controller setup I’d use at Portugal:

• Wings – 31/35
• Diff – 50/55
• Camber – -2.50/-1.00/0.00/0.10
• Suspension –  19-5-7-1-38-41
• Brakes – 95 Pressure/55 Bias
• Tyre pressures – Fronts 22.5/Rears minimum

If you can still get away with the 3 clicks spacing without losing traction, especially out of the tricky slow corners, then do it, but Portugal is already tricky even in the dry and even more so in the full wet conditions.

Update – I just smashed pole position by 7 tenths in my career mode (which is not normal) in intermediate conditions, and won the dry race, using almost this wet setup as well – 30/33 wings, and the rest basically the same, so it does work for single lap pace in wet conditions.

See our guide on converting dry setups to wet setups for more detailed information on this.

Alternative Setup Resources

Portugal is a really tricky track to get right, so not all car setups will work for all people. Also, there are more aggressive setups you can use for single lap pace, but which would be much harder to control more consistently in a race.

If you’re wanting to explore different car setup routes to go down for the Portimão, here are some other setup resources to check out:

• F1laps.com Portugal page– Another car setup forum with pages for every track, and loads of custom setups posted, both TT and race, all cars, all conditions.
• F1gamesetup.com – An even more specialized resource with custom setups, every car and every track, wet and dry weather.

Extra Tips For Driving Here

Here are some extra tips and recommendations for racing in leagues or against AI at Portugal.

Grip

Portimão is a low grip circuit in real life, leading to some drivers to complain about driving there. And it’s partially replicated in the game as well, though taken down a few notches.

But be prepared with the low grip to more easily lose the back of the car in the twisty sections especially.

Be careful on turn in and don’t carry too much speed into corners, and also be patient and progressive on the throttle out of slow corners. That’s also another reason why an “understeery” but more stable setup works better for longer races here. Focus on consistency and watch the others spin off in open lobbies as they get too aggressive on the throttle.

Turn 8

This is the corner which catches most people out – that tricky, uphill right hander that’s really easy to lose the car at. A large part of the “understeery” setup is simply designed to help navigate this corner consistently in longer races. Be cautious on the throttle out of this corner, wait until the car is pointing fully straight, and make sure you have a car setup doesn’t over-rotate the car.

Don’t screw turn 8 up like Kimi…..

ERS

Even though you’re not using massively high levels of downforce, ERS always seems to run out insanely fast at Portimão, so be very careful how and when you use it.

If you’ve got a well upgraded Energy Recovery System in career mode it makes it easier, but in online/GP mode, ERS management is very hard round here. Just driving along the pit straight without even deploying it, still depletes it.

Therefore, just spamming ERS all on the long pit straight every lap isn’t usually a good idea, and once you’ve used it up, it doesn’t come back on this track. Focus on raw pace and use the battery boost only when really needed on in-laps/out-laps, and to defend/overtake.

Tyre temps

The tyres are very prone to overheating here with the number of successive right hand corners especially. Keep pressures low – just a few clicks from minimum front and rear, to prevent overheating.