Verstappen sets the pace during FP1 in Miami
In the critical sole practice session of the Miami Grand Prix Sprint weekend, Max Verstappen fought through a personally messy session to finish with the fastest time, a 1:28.595s, ahead of the Sprint Shootout.
For the first of three outings on American soil, Kevin Magnussen led the field out of the pitlane for the all-important sole hour of Practice in Miami.
Just as in Shanghai, the drivers only had sixty minutes to familiarise themselves with the Miami track.
Lando Norris immediately reported an issue with the handling of his MCL38. He found it too easy to steer left and too difficult to steer right.
He completed his out-lap by peeling back into the pits, joining only the Williams duo in their garages while the entire grid circulated the Miami International Autodrome.
Opening times were set on the medium and hard compound, with Max Verstappen taking the early benchmark time of 1m31.071s.
In Sector 3, Charles Leclerc found his underwhelmingly blue Ferrari facing the wrong way around.
The SF-24 was unsettled over the kerb at Turn 16, testing Leclerc’s reaction time to avoid the tight walls.
He managed to do so; however, he couldn’t make a three-point turn work because the clutch overheated as he attempted to reverse, prompting an early Red Flag.
The clock painfully continued to tick down, and drivers were only allowed back on track with 45 minutes remaining.
Charles Leclerc spun his Ferrari at Turn 16, prompting an early Red Flag. Image: F1.
The Ferrari returned to the garage with just over half of the session remaining, however, never returned to the track.
Sporting the stunning “Chameleon” livery, Daniel Ricciardo headed the long queue of cars as they were released out onto the semi-street circuit.
The boy born 18 miles from the Miami International Autodrome locked up at Turn 11, running wide and ruining his entry to Turn 12.
As for a returning Norris, the issue seemed to be partially fixed, however, not perfect.
After all first attempts had been punched in, Sergio Perez now held the top stop, joined by both Mercedes drivers in the top three.
Oscar Piastri settled in behind the lead trio, with Verstappen’s name finally appearing in P5.
The Dutchman soon fell victim to the heavy braking zone at Turn 17, taking to the run-off area to avoid flat-spotting his medium tyres as he drifted further down the order.
Sitting with the second fastest time, Hamilton took a heavy dosage of the kerb at Turn 14, seeing him returning to the pits after completing the lap.
Verstappen replicated this error a few laps later before undergoing front-end adjustments to start his quali runs.
It was also a messy run for Yuki Tsunoda, who held the fastest middle sectors overall. The Japanese driver ran wide at the Turn 17 hairpin.
Yuki Tsunoda on track during practice at the Miami Grand Prix. Image: Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool.
Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin stayed in the garage as his team worked on rear suspension adjustments.
The #14 was sitting just within the top ten times, while his teammate, off the back of a controversial weekend, was just shy.
With just over twenty minutes remaining, Carlos Sainz secured the quickest overall time on the hard tyre, a 1:29.331s, more than three-tenths ahead of Perez.
Norris edged closer to his former teammate, jumping into P2 just over a tenth back on Sainz.
As for his McLaren teammate, Piastri nearly kissed the wall as he exited Turn 16 following a poor run across the kerbs at Turns 13-14.
Zhou Guanyu was the first driver to switch to the soft compound tyre.
The Sauber driver didn’t improve in the first sector but set personal bests in the following two sectors.
As a result, he didn’t improve in the order, staying in P7 while Valtteri Bottas later jumped from P14 to P7, demoting his teammate by three-tenths.
Alex Albon had a stressful run across his first few miles on the soft compound, avoiding a near-costly incident before taking to the run-off area further along in the lap.
The Williams driver questioned whether his FW46 was rear-locking after making set-up changes.
Pierre Gasly was one of a few drivers able to turn their soft tyres on, shooting to the top of the timing sheets with a time of 1:29.175s.
The rest of the grid wasn’t far behind, however, with the Alpine shortly demoted by Russell, Sainz, and Hamilton.
George Russell on track during practice at the Miami GP. Image: Zak Mauger / LAT Images.
Verstappen continued to struggle, saying that the tyres were like driving on “eggshells” as he was caught out by the gusty conditions and small snaps of oversteer.
He returned to the garage, sitting in P19 ahead of only Leclerc, who wasn’t running in the session, while Perez wasn’t much more impressive in P13.
With five minutes to go, Red Bull switched to the red-marked compound, and Perez refreshingly found his way back to the top of the order.
His time was 1m28.868s, which was soon beaten by Verstappen’s time of 1m28.595s, along with Sainz and Russell.
As for their sister team, RB still had both drivers on the medium compound.
Tsunoda impressively sat in P6, nearly six-tenths behind Verstappen, while Ricciardo was back in P14.
The Australian soon put his colourful RB into the top ten, a tenth behind Tsunoda as the chequered flag was waved.
Despite the session being far from clean for the reigning world champion, Verstappen finished free practice with the quickest time.
Oscar Piastri and Carlos Sainz joined him in the top three, separated by only 11 milliseconds.
The grid will head straight into the Sprint Shootout in just a few hours, setting the grid for tomorrow morning’s Sprint race.
Free Practice Results:
| POS | DRIVER | TIME | GAP | LAPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:28.595 | 25 | ||
| 2 | 1:28.700 | +0.105s | 24 | |
| 3 | 1:28.711 | +0.116s | 24 | |
| 4 | 1:28.784 | +0.189s | 26 | |
| 5 | 1:28.817 | +0.222s | 25 | |
| 6 | 1:28.868 | +0.273s | 23 | |
| 7 | 1:29.012 | +0.417s | 24 | |
| 8 | 1:29.056 | +0.461s | 25 | |
| 9 | 1:29.163 | +0.568s | 23 | |
| 10 | 1:29.175 | +0.580s | 27 | |
| 11 | 1:29.178 | +0.583s | 27 | |
| 12 | 1:29.189 | +0.594s | 26 | |
| 13 | 1:29.314 | +0.719s | 25 | |
| 14 | 1:29.393 | +0.798s | 24 | |
| 15 | 1:29.445 | +0.850s | 24 | |
| 16 | 1:29.495 | +0.900s | 21 | |
| 17 | 1:29.636 | +1.041s | 23 | |
| 18 | 1:29.891 | +1.296s | 23 | |
| 19 | 1:30.023 | +1.428s | 22 | |
| 20 | 1:32.099 | +3.504s | 3 |
2024 Miami Grand Prix schedule
Saturday, May 4
Practice 1: 02.30-03.30
Sprint Shootout: 06.30-07.14
Sunday, May 5
Sprint: 02.00-03.00
Qualifying: 06.00-07.00
Monday, May 5
Grand Prix: 06.00
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