Russell leads Mercedes 1-2 with late Miami GP FP1 improvements

George Russell led a Mercedes one-two in the opening Formula 1 practice session at the Miami Grand Prix as Nico Hulkenberg caused a red flag when he crashed his Haas at Turn 3.

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Key moments:

> Russell and Hamilton lead with late laps

> Leclerc third ahead of Verstappen

> Perez only 11th

> Hulkenberg crashes at Turn 3

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Around 35 minutes into FP1, Hulkenberg made it through the opening corner normally but ran wide at Turn 2 and entered Turn 3 off-line, losing control of his VF-23 and ending up backwards against the Turn 3 barriers.

That ended Hulkenberg’s session while he was second in the order behind championship leader Max Verstappen, and brought out the sole red flag of the session.

🚩 RED FLAG 🚩

Hulkenberg loses the car at Turn 3 and he hits the wall#MiamiGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/NJM3f8vmNP

— Formula 1 (@F1) May 5, 2023

Verstappen improved when the session resumed but he was usurped by the Mercedes drivers and the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.

Russell ended up fastest on a 1m30.125s which was 0.220 seconds faster than team-mate Lewis Hamilton and a further tenth faster than Leclerc, who also set a late flying lap.

Verstappen set his fastest effort earlier in the session and ended up over four tenths adrift of Russell. His Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez’s quickest time was a second slower than Verstappen’s and he ended up outside the top 10 in 11th place.

Carlos Sainz made it two Ferraris in the top five ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and the Aston Martin drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.

Hulkenberg’s best pre-crash time was still good enough for ninth ahead of the second Alpine of Esteban Ocon, who completed the top 10.

Perez was 11th ahead of the lead McLaren of Oscar Piastri and the second Haas of Kevin Magnussen.

Practice 1 Results