Formula 1

Everything that happened in first Miami F1 practice

by Josh Suttill
3 min read

Up Next

Charles Leclerc led George Russell and Max Verstappen in the first Formula 1 practice session at the inaugural Miami Grand Prix.


Key moments

– Leclerc fastest, Verstappen third
– Russell second in upgraded Mercedes
– Bottas crash causes red flag
– Sainz spins and picks up puncture


Leclerc spun in his early exploratory laps of the new Miami International Autodrome but he and his Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz led the opening stages on the medium tyres, while the other frontrunners used soft tyres.

When Leclerc bolted on the soft tyres, the championship leader delivered a late flier of a 1m31.098s to top the session and edge the Mercedes of George Russell by just 0.071s.

Mercedes has brought a raft of upgrades to this weekend’s Miami GP, and it appeared the porpoising issues that have plagued its 2022 season were muted – although this was a trend seen across most teams.

The Red Bulls of Verstappen and Sergio Perez completed the top four ahead of fellow Honda-powered driver Pierre Gasly.

Valtteri Bottas proved to be the first victim of the new Miami circuit as he lost control of his Alfa Romeo through the Turn 6-8 hairpin and went backwards into the barriers at Turn 7.

Bottas’s stricken car caused a red flag that stopped the session for 10 minutes before it restarted with 15 minutes on the clock.

Shortly after the session resumed Sainz spun his Ferrari at the high-speed Turn 4 left-hander and picked up a puncture while on his first proper soft tyre run.

Sainz recovered to set the sixth fastest time on the medium tyres in the closing stages.

The Williams of Alex Albon was a surprise seventh place ahead of the second Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton, who has been at the centre of the latest jewellery clampdown controversy this weekend.

The top 10 was rounded out by the Haas of Kevin Magnussen and the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo.

Esteban Ocon and Alpine will see the stewards after the session as he almost collided with Russell at the start of the session in the pitlane due to what looked like an unsafe release.

Practice 1 Results

Pos Name Car Best Time Gap Leader
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1m31.098s
2 George Russell Mercedes 1m31.169s +0.071s
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1m31.277s +0.179s
4 Sergio Pérez Red Bull 1m31.301s +0.203s
5 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri-Red Bull 1m31.498s +0.4s
6 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1m31.528s +0.43s
7 Alex Albon Williams-Mercedes 1m31.854s +0.756s
8 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m31.956s +0.858s
9 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 1m32.559s +1.461s
10 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren-Mercedes 1m32.592s +1.494s
11 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1m32.615s +1.517s
12 Fernando Alonso Alpine-Renault 1m32.884s +1.786s
13 Guanyu Zhou Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 1m33.02s +1.922s
14 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin-Mercedes 1m33.024s +1.926s
15 Esteban Ocon Alpine-Renault 1m33.417s +2.319s
16 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Mercedes 1m33.576s +2.478s
17 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 1m33.773s +2.675s
18 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri-Red Bull 1m34.043s +2.945s
19 Mick Schumacher Haas-Ferrari 1m34.945s +3.847s
20 Nicholas Latifi Williams-Mercedes 1m35.637s +4.539s
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email
  • More Networks