George Russell overcame a delay of more than 20 minutes in the garage to go quickest ahead of team mate Lewis Hamilton in first practice in Miami.
After his mechanics replaced the steering rack on his car, Russell set the fastest time in the final minutes on soft tyres to top the times, two tenths ahead of Hamilton. Charles Leclerc was third fastest for Ferrari, ahead of Max Verstappen, who was quickest for much of the earlier part of the session.
It was a hot and humid start to the second Miami Grand Prix weekend with ambient temperatures just below 30C when the green light signalled the start of the opening hour of practice. Drivers immediately found that the fresh, resurfaced circuit offered very little grip – especially off the racing line – with Verstappen reporting as much over his radio.
Kevin Magnussen was the first driver to set a lap time with a 1’38.852, but that was quickly eclipsed by Esteban Ocon and his first lap in the Alpine by four-hundredths of a second. Verstappen then went fastest of all on his first lap of the weekend on the hard compound tyres, despite running wide and off the circuit at the turn one.
George Russell reported steering problems on his Mercedes and returned to the garage while he team changed the steering rack on his W14. He would remain in the garage for around 20 minutes as his mechanics reverted his car to an earlier spec of steering rack, eventually getting back out onto the circuit at the midpoint of the session.
Nyck de Vries had a spin at turn 12, having to swing his AlphaTauri around to continue on his way. He was briefly investigated by the stewards for “dangerous driving” due to the manner in which he rejoined the circuit, however the stewards quickly determined no fault had been committed by the AlphaTauri driver.
Nico Hulkenberg put Haas on top of the times with a 1’31.392 on the soft compound tyres, but that was later beaten by Verstappen by three tenths of a second as the championship leader put on the soft tyres for the first time. Then Hulkenberg lost the rear of his car rounding the fast right hander of turn three and spun into the outside barrier, causing significant damage to his car and bringing out the red flags for the first time in the weekend.
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After a delay of just under 10 minutes, the session resumed with 17 minutes of the session remaining. Verstappen immediately improved on his own best time, setting a 1’30.549. The two Ferraris of…
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