F1 Miami GP: Verstappen fastest in FP1 as Leclerc spins out

The championship leader went to the top of the order early on in the session prior to a red flag period but struggled upon the resumption of the session as his RB20 appeared to lack balance in the majority of the session.

A lock-up at Turn 17 had nixed one lap and a miscue at the Turn 14-15 chicane cost another attempt at putting a time on the board, leaving the Dutchman languishing in 19th overall as the rest of the field started to improve.

Although he had to face a gust of wind on his first effort with softs which forced its abandonment, Verstappen rallied and placed his Red Bull on top of the pile with a 1m28.595s to shake off the earlier worries.

Charles Leclerc's early spin at Turn 16 produced a red flag, as the circuit proved too narrow for him to immediately rotate his car the right way around. Unable to engage reverse a second time to complete his pirouette due to an overheated clutch, Leclerc had to abandon ship and jump out of his car.

This produced a break in proceedings of about five minutes as Leclerc's Ferrari was wheeled off the circuit, before the teams flocked back to the track at the green flag to recover valuable running time.

Sergio Perez vaulted to the top of the order with a 1m29.632s on used mediums, closely accosted on the timing boards by the two Mercedes cars sporting new floors, but the Mexican was prised off of his perch by Carlos Sainz's 1m29.346s lap on hard tyres as the session's first half-hour had elapsed.

Sainz then raised the bar slightly with a 1m29.331s, which remained the headliner through the next 15 minutes of the session as the focus shifted among the field towards collecting longer-run data. Lando Norris moved in between Sainz and Perez in the order with a time just 0.164s shy of his former McLaren team-mate's effort, after working through a front suspension issue early in the session.

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38 (Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images)

Over the final 10 minutes, soft-tyre running entered the session's lexicon and a series of drivers bolted on the Pirelli C4 compound for qualifying simulations. Pierre Gasly used them to produce a surprise and parked his improved and no-longer overweight Alpine on top, setting a 1m29.175s.

Sainz reclaimed the fastest time with a 1m28.979s, but this stint was brief as George Russell placed his Mercedes atop the order having set a 1m28.910s. 

Perez then put together a 1m28.869s to move to the top, despite losing time in the opening sector from an encounter with a slow Sauber, but this was subsequently beaten by Verstappen's timesheet-topping tour as the championship leader eventually stitched together a cohesive lap.

Piastri then interrupted the rapidly changing order behind Verstappen, a tenth shy of the best lap as the Australian mugged Sainz at the end of the session by just 0.011s.

Russell grabbed fourth overall, while Lance Stroll crept into fifth at the end of the session to resume Aston Martin's presence among the front-runners. Perez slipped to sixth among those late laps, over a tenth clear of Lewis Hamilton.

Yuki Tsunoda dragged his RB, sporting a special kaleidoscopic livery for the Miami weekend, up to eighth ahead of the Alpine duo of Esteban Ocon and Gasly, who took their improved A524s into the top 10.

F1 Miami GP Practice Results

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info

1

 - 

4

Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1		Red Bull	Red Bull	25	1'28.595		219.913
2	O. Piastri McLaren	81		McLaren	Mercedes	24	+0.105 1'28.700	0.105	219.652
3	C. Sainz Ferrari	55		Ferrari	Ferrari	24	+0.384 1'28.979	0.279	218.964
4	G. Russell Mercedes	63		Mercedes	Mercedes	26	+0.189 1'28.784		219.444
5	S. Perez Red Bull Racing	11		Red Bull	Red Bull	23	+0.273 1'28.868	0.084	219.237
6	L. Hamilton Mercedes	44		Mercedes	Mercedes	24	+0.417 1'29.012	0.144	218.882
7	Y. Tsunoda RB	22		RB	Red Bull	25	+0.461 1'29.056	0.044	218.774
9	E. Ocon Alpine	31		Alpine	Renault	23	+0.568 1'29.163	0.107	218.512
10	P. Gasly Alpine	10		Alpine	Renault	27	+0.580 1'29.175	0.012	218.482
11	D. Ricciardo RB	3		RB	Red Bull	27	+0.583 1'29.178	0.003	218.475
12	K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team	20		Haas	Ferrari	26	+0.594 1'29.189	0.011	218.448
13	N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team	27		Haas	Ferrari	25	+0.719 1'29.314	0.125	218.142
13	A. Albon Williams	23		Williams	Mercedes	24	+0.798 1'29.393	0.079	217.949
14	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18		Aston Martin	Mercedes	25	+0.825 1'29.420	0.027	217.884
15	L. Norris McLaren	4		McLaren	Mercedes	21	+0.900 1'29.495	0.075	217.701
16	V. Bottas Sauber	77		Sauber	Ferrari	23	+1.041 1'29.636	0.141	217.359
17	L. Sargeant Williams	2		Williams	Mercedes	23	+1.296 1'29.891	0.255	216.742
18	Z. Guanyu Sauber	24		Sauber	Ferrari	24	+2.554 1'31.149	1.258	213.751
19	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14		Aston Martin	Mercedes	22	+1.428 1'30.023		216.424
20	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16		Ferrari	Ferrari	3	+3.504 1'32.099	2.076	211.546
View full results