#F1 #MiamiGP FP1: @OscarPiastri pips @CharlesLeclerc by 0.356s.
Oscar Piastri, #81, McLaren Formula 1 Team-Mercedes, MCL39, Free Practice 1, Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix 2025, Miami International Autodrome, Miami, Florida, United States of America. Image credit to Zak Mauger/LAT Images. Piastri Miami GP FP1, Miami GP FP1 Results, Miami Grand Prix FP1, Formula 1 Miami FP1, Piastri Leclerc Verstappen Miami.
Piastri Miami GP FP1 – Championship leader Oscar Piastri pipped Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in the only practice session before Sprint Qualifying at the Miami GP as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen completed the top three as the 60-minute session ended under a red flag due to Haas’s Oliver Bearman who spun on-track.
Piastri posted the session-topping benchmark of a 1:27.128 on the C5 red side-walled softer compound and was 0.356 seconds clear of Leclerc whilst Verstappen was a further 0.430 seconds adrift in third.
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was the first to hit the Miami International Autodrome leading the pack out with the C4 yellow-marked medium tyre followed by McLaren’s Piastri, Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, Williams duo Carlos Sainz and Alexander Albon.
Gasly registered the initial benchmark of a 1:30.189, which was quickly beaten by Piastri’s 1:30.059 effort.
Sainz and the other Alpine of Jack Doohan slotted in third and fourth respectively.
Reigning world champion Verstappen then jumped to the top with a 1:29.808 to go 0.251 seconds clear of Piastri as the former’s Red Bull team-mate Yuki Tsunoda moved up to fourth.
Mercedes’ George Russell was next to go to P1 with a 1:29.798 effort to end up a narrow 0.010 seconds clear of Verstappen as the Miami International Autodrome continued to rubber down.
Leclerc pushed to a 1:29.615 effort to go fastest but was then beaten by former team-mate Sainz who puts his FW47 on top with a 1:29.198 then Albon slotted in second to be only 0.022 off his Williams team-mate.
Verstappen was next posting all three purple sectors to be quickest with a 1:28.634 and be 0.564 clear of Sainz as Ferrari’s Sir Lewis Hamilton moved up into fifth ahead of team-mate Leclerc.
Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli set a purple middle sector to bring his F1 W16 entry to P2, but was then relegated to fourth after improvements from McLaren’s Norris and Ferrari’s Leclerc who both slotted into third and fourth in the classification.
Russell then reclaimed P1 with a 1:28.488 effort to go 0.146 seconds ahead of Verstappen as Piastri slotted in third and was a further 0.324 adrift of the Mercedes driver.
Albon then put his FW47 into fifth place to be 0.407 seconds off and in-front of Leclerc.
Verstappen was next and improved with a purple opening sector to wound up 0.108 seconds off of Russell’s benchmark to remain in second.
Norris then bumped Russell off the P1 slot with his 1:28.391, but this was quickly beaten by the latter who snatched P1 back on a 1:29.058 flying effort and be 0.333 seconds clear.
Sainz and Antonelli both improved to jump into fourth and fifth respectively and were 0.735 seconds and 0.753 seconds off Russell’s benchmark respectively.
Albon with two personal bests moved up into third place to be 0.387 seconds off Russell’s effort.
RB’s Isack Hadjar followed with two personal bests to split Verstappen and Sainz in fifth.
Sainz then brought his Williams to second in the order and 0.253 seconds off Russell’s P1 benchmark.
The majority of drivers with 36 minutes left in the sole practice session returned to the pits.
With two personal bests in sectors one and three, Antonelli pushed his Silver Arrow to second to be 0.169 seconds off his team-mate Russell.
With 33 minutes remaining almost all drivers were in the pits adjusting their setups and then continued on with new sets of the medium tyres as they returned to the track.
Piastri came in next to move up into fourth to end up 0.284 seconds off Russell’s effort just under the midway point of proceedings.
Leclerc then slotted into sixth with two personal bests and was 0.338 seconds off Russell’s benchmark as Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg who was the first using the C5 softs wounded up 19th and ahead of team-mate Bortoleto.
Replays showed Norris take some late avoiding action – Haas’s Esteban Ocon dawdling on the racing line at the end of the back straight causing a scare for the McLaren driver.
“My god, what is that?! He is fully on the racing line!” Verstappen’s take on his moment of traffic, with a Ferrari going very slowly on track.
The drivers were having to go exceptionally slow on their cooldown laps to get those tyre temperatures down – which was causing even more problems with traffic out there.
With 15 minutes remaining, drivers were beginning to bolt on a set of C5’s to begin their qualifying simulation runs as Sauber’s Hulkenberg slotted into ninth with his effort to go 0.515 seconds adrift of Russell’s P1 medium-tyre benchmark.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was next and with three personal bests went eighth fastest in the order.
Sainz was next with posting a personal best sector and a purple middle sector to set a 1:27.678 to go quickest as his Williams team-mate Albon slots behind him in second and was 0.277’s seconds off.
Meanwhile, replays showed Piastri had a brush with the wall with his front right out of the exit of the turn 16 left-hander.
Hadjar improved with three personal bests to go fifth in the order whilst Tsunoda was up into fifth.
Verstappen then planted a 1:27.558 to go 0.120 seconds in-front of Sainz in P1.
Leclerc then pipped Verstappen with his effort of a 1:27.484 effort until Piastri set three purple to post a 1:27.128 and be 0.356 seconds clear of Leclerc at the top of the pile.
Meanwhile with less than five minutes remaining, replays showed Haas’s Oliver Bearman stuck in the wall bringing out a red flag.
Replays showed the Briton suffer a spin through the sweeping turn 11 and tap the wall with the VF-25 racer facing the other way.
The session would not be restarted as the time ran out meaning rivals could not complete their qualifying simulation efforts as Piastri ended the session on top with Leclerc second whilst Verstappen rounded out the top three.
Williams duo Sainz and Albon followed in fourth and fifth respectively as Hadjar was sixth in the classification.
Mercedes pairing Russell and Antonelli were seventh and ninth respectively as Red Bull’s Tsunoda split the Silver Arrows in eighth.
Aston Martin’s Alonso completed the top ten.
You can see the full Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix 2025 Free Practice 1 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2025/races/1259/miami/practice/1
