F1 Grand Prix practice results: George Russell fastest in Miami GP on Friday

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fastest in FP1 but he was a tenth slower than Russell in the faster FP2 as the track rubbered-in.

The day was incident packed, with Carlos Sainz and Valtteri Bottas both hitting the wall and causing red flags, while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen suffered a torrid time with reliability.

Miami Grand Prix FP1 results: Leclerc fastest from Russell

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval
1	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	26	1'31.098
2	George Russell	Mercedes	23	1'31.169	0.071	0.071
3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	14	1'31.277	0.179	0.108
4	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	22	1'31.301	0.203	0.024
5	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	27	1'31.498	0.400	0.197
6	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	25	1'31.528	0.430	0.030
7	Alex Albon	Williams	20	1'31.854	0.756	0.326
8	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	23	1'31.956	0.858	0.102
9	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	20	1'32.559	1.461	0.603
10	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	21	1'32.592	1.494	0.033
11	Lando Norris	McLaren	26	1'32.615	1.517	0.023
12	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	31	1'32.884	1.786	0.269
13	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo	23	1'33.020	1.922	0.136
14	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	24	1'33.024	1.926	0.004
15	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	27	1'33.417	2.319	0.393
16	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	23	1'33.576	2.478	0.159
17	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo	13	1'33.773	2.675	0.197
18	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	27	1'34.043	2.945	0.270
19	Mick Schumacher	Haas	20	1'34.945	3.847	0.902
20	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	27	1'35.637	4.539	0.692
View full results

What happened in Miami GP Free Practice 1?

The brand-new nature of the track was apparent right from the start, as car after car overshot Turn 1 on their first flying laps.

Leclerc was the first to spin there, along with AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, while Leclerc’s teammate Sainz suffered a huge spin at Turn 4. That came after a red flag for Bottas shunting his Alfa Romeo at Turn 7, the Finn losing control at the tricky left hander and severely damaging the rear of his car.

Leclerc ended the session 0.071s faster than the Mercedes of Russell, while Verstappen was third, 0.179s off the pace, despite ending his session early due to overheating.

His teammate Sergio Perez was fourth fastest, ahead of Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri), Sainz, Alex Albon (Williams) and Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes).

Miami Grand Prix FP2 results: Russell fastest from Leclerc

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval
1	George Russell	Mercedes	18	1'29.938
2	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	21	1'30.044	0.106	0.106
3	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	19	1'30.150	0.212	0.106
4	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	18	1'30.179	0.241	0.029
5	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	20	1'30.372	0.434	0.193
6	Lando Norris	McLaren	20	1'30.535	0.597	0.163
7	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	20	1'30.547	0.609	0.012
8	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo	24	1'30.860	0.922	0.313
9	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	20	1'30.861	0.923	0.001
10	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	19	1'30.921	0.983	0.060
11	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	9	1'30.964	1.026	0.043
12	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	23	1'31.208	1.270	0.244
13	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	23	1'31.260	1.322	0.052
14	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	23	1'31.393	1.455	0.133
15	Mick Schumacher	Haas	21	1'31.587	1.649	0.194
16	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	23	1'31.631	1.693	0.044
17	Alex Albon	Williams	21	1'31.710	1.772	0.079
18	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	14	1'32.913	2.975	1.203
19	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1
20	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo	0
View full results

What happened in Miami GP Free Practice 2?

There was more high drama in FP2, as Sainz went fastest early on and then put his Ferrari in the wall at Turn 14, swiping off the left-front corner and causing the second red flag of the day.

Soon after the restart, Verstappen suffered an issue that caused his Red Bull’s rear brake to catch fire, and he was almost rear-ended by Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin as he also struggled to steer the car back to the pits.

Verstappen failed to record a laptime, and was done for the day, as was Bottas – whose Alfa was stranded while its rear end was being rebuilt.

Another brief red flag was required later on for Nicholas Latifi, whose Williams ground to a halt after he reported something “felt weird”.

In between the chaos, Russell went fastest on the soft tyre – a tenth clear of Leclerc, with Perez – who suffered a wild spin at Turn 12 but continued – in third.

Hamilton was fourth, a tenth further back, ahead of Fernando Alonso (Alpine), Lando Norris (McLaren) and Gasly.