2021 Portuguese motorcycle Grand Prix

On 22 January 2021 Dorna announced a significant update of the provisional calendar following the postponement of the Argentine and American Grands Prix, originally scheduled as the second and third rounds of the championship (on 11 and 18 April respectively) due to the COVID-19 situation in both countries, with potential rescheduling for the last quarter of 2021. The Portuguese Grand Prix at the Algarve was entered as a reserve Grand Prix, along with the Indonesian Grand Prix and the Russian Grand Prix (later removed from the list). On the same day Dorna announced an agreement with the organizers of the Portuguese Grand Prix to hold the race on the Algarve circuit as the third stage of the 2021 championship (the first of the season in Europe) on 18 April. Portugal had returned to the championship as a substitute race the previous year, when the last round of the 2020 championship was held.

After the Doha Grand Prix, Johann Zarco is the new leader of the rider standings at 40 points, followed by the Monster Energy Yamaha riders Fabio Quartararo and Maverick Viñales, winners of the first two races of the season, four points behind; followed by Francesco Bagnaia and Álex Rins, respectively fourteen and seventeen points behind Zarco.

In the constructors' classification, Yamaha leads with 50 points, 10 more than Ducati. Suzuki is third at 26 points, with Aprilia fourth at 15 points; KTM and Honda close at 11 points.

In the team championship standings, Monster Energy Yamaha is first with 72 points. Pramac Racing is second at 57 points, with Team Suzuki Ecstar and Ducati Lenovo Team following at 45 and 40 points respectively. Repsol Honda Team is fifth with 18 points.

Sam Lowes leads the intermediate class with 50 points, followed by Remy Gardner at 40 points. Raúl Fernández is third with 26 points, one more than Marco Bezzecchi and five more than Fabio Di Giannantonio.

After his victory in the Doha Grand Prix, Pedro Acosta moved up to the top of the standings with 45 points, followed by Darryn Binder on 36 points and Jaume Masiá on 32 points. Fourth and fifth Niccolò Antonelli and Izan Guevara respectively at 26 and 19 points.

Marc Márquez returns as Honda's starter rider after the incident in the 2020 Spanish Grand Prix, which is valid as the first race of the 2020 championship.

• Miquel Pons replace Simone Corsi because of an injury.
• Fraser Rogers replace Barry Baltus because of fractured left wrist injury.

The riders and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in riders for the race.

Maverick Viñales was fastest in the first session, followed by Álex Rins and Marc Márquez. In the second session, Francesco Bagnaia preceded Fabio Quartararo and Joan Mir. In the third session, Quartararo finished at the top of the standings ahead of Franco Morbidelli and Bagnaia.

The top ten riders (written in bold) qualified in Q2.

The fastest personal time of the riders are written in bold type.

Pos.	No.	Rider	Constructor	Free practice times
				FP1[1]	FP2[2]	FP3[3]
1	20	Fabio Quartararo	Yamaha	1:42.528	1:40.206	1:39.044
2	21	Franco Morbidelli	Yamaha	1:43.243	1:41.216	1:39.095
3	63	Francesco Bagnaia	Ducati	1:42.464	1:39.866	1'39.117
OFFICIAL MOTOGP COMBINED FREE PRACTICE TIMES REPORT

Pos.	No.	Rider	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	20	Fabio Quartararo	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	25	41:46.412	1	25
2	63	Francesco Bagnaia	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati	25	+4.809	11	20
3	36	Joan Mir	Team Suzuki Ecstar	Suzuki	25	+4.948	9	16
4	21	Franco Morbidelli	Petronas Yamaha SRT	Yamaha	25	+5.127	5	13
5	33	Brad Binder	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	25	+6.668	15	11
6	41	Aleix Espargaró	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	25	+8.885	7	10
7	93	Marc Márquez	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	25	+13.208	6	9
8	73	Álex Márquez	LCR Honda Castrol	Honda	25	+17.992	13	8
9	23	Enea Bastianini	Avintia Esponsorama	Ducati	25	+22.369	16	7
10	30	Takaaki Nakagami	LCR Honda Idemitsu	Honda	25	+23.676	21	6
11	12	Maverick Viñales	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	25	+23.761	12	5
12	10	Luca Marini	Sky VR46 Avintia	Ducati	25	+29.660	8	4
13	9	Danilo Petrucci	Tech3 KTM Factory Racing	KTM	25	+29.836	18	3
14	32	Lorenzo Savadori	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	25	+38.941	20	2
15	27	Iker Lecuona	Tech3 KTM Factory Racing	KTM	25	+50.642	19	1
16	88	Miguel Oliveira	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	24	+1 lap	10
Ret	5	Johann Zarco	Pramac Racing	Ducati	19	Accident	3
Ret	42	Álex Rins	Team Suzuki Ecstar	Suzuki	18	Accident	2
Ret	46	Valentino Rossi	Petronas Yamaha SRT	Yamaha	14	Accident	17
Ret	43	Jack Miller	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati	5	Accident	4
Ret	44	Pol Espargaró	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	4	Rear Brakes	14
DNS	89	Jorge Martín	Pramac Racing	Ducati		Did not start
Fastest lap: Álex Rins (Suzuki) – 1:39.450 (lap 18)
Sources:[6][7][8]

• Jorge Martín suffered hand & foot fractures in a crash during practice and withdrew from the event.