#MiamiGP FP2: @GeorgeRussell63 leads from @CharlesLeclerc. #F1

Russell Miami GP FP2 – Mercedes’ George Russell topped a red flag disrupted FP2 session at the inaugural Miami GP ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez who rounded out the top three.

 

 

Russell posted the benchmark of a 1:29.938 on the C4 red-marked softer rubber and was 0.106 seconds faster than Leclerc with Perez a further 0.212 seconds off the leading Mercedes.

 

There were two red flags that halted the proceedings – Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz crashing out during the early stages and Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi stopped late on.

 

In a touch cooler conditions compared to the earlier Free Practice 1 session, Latifi lead the pack out of the pits and set the early pace of a 1:36.312.

 

This was rapidly beaten by Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon – with all the early runners completing their efforts on the C3 yellow-branded mediums – the P1 time hitting a 1:32.906.

 

BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso moved ahead a few minutes later posting a 1:32.094, also on the mediums, before Sainz jumped back in-front with a 1:31.463.

 

After the opening ten minutes ended, Leclerc’s first hot-lap saw him shoot to the top of the classification with a 1:31.131, before team-mate Sainz – his opening stint on the same set of rubber – then saw the Spaniard take back P1 on a 1:30.964.

 

However a few minutes later, Sainz’s session ended early when he lost the rear of his F1-75 racer going through the rapid turn 13 left-hand just before the tight chicane late in sector two and hit the wall on the outside of that sequence.

 

The Ferrari driver looked to have slightly slid wide going through the preceding sweeping turn 12 long right and when the Spaniard went through the next left, his F1-75 racer snapped backwards to the right and Sainz spun backwards, with the cars front-right knocked off against the barriers.

 

This lead to a 12-minute suspension of the session as the F1-75 and its debris was cleared, after which the field re-emerged on the softs for their qualifying simulation runs.

 

Alonso looked set to use his softer compounds to move in-front of Sainz’s medium-tyre effort, but came across Verstappen travelling slowly at the chicane and had to abort his flyer.

 

The Dutchman had only left the pits for the first time after Red Bull replaced his gearbox after suffering overheating problems in opening practice.

 

This meant Verstappen missed the opening half of FP2, but when the Red Bull driver did leave the pits after the red flag stoppage, he rapidly reported a severe steering issue, which left the reigning world champion touring slowly around the Miami International Autodrome – also getting in the way of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll dramatically as the Canadian came across the RB18, unable to turn quickly even with full steering locked on, at the 90-degree turn 11 left-hander at the end of the long speed run through turns nine and ten.

 

As Verstappen returned to the pits with what was later diagnosed as a hydraulics problem, his right-rear brakes caught fire and Dutchman did not return to action.

 

As Verstappen was finally getting back into pit-lane, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton jumped into P1 with his opening flyer on the softer compounds to beat Sainz’s earlier benchmark on the mediums.

 

The Briton went fastest on a 1:30.179, before Leclerc reclaimed top spot on a 1:30.044 also on the softs.

 

But Russell, second in the earlier free practice one session with an updated Mercedes F1 W13 that appeared not to be porpoising heavily as it did in the opening rounds – then moved to the top of the time-sheets with a 1:29.938.

 

This remained as FP2’s best effort until the end, even after Leclerc done two flying laps on the softs – the first of which was with the same set of softs as his opening hot-lap, which he aborted after losing time to Russell in sector two.

 

His third soft effort followed a trip through pit-lane, but even after posting a personal best in the final sector, the championship leader was unable to improve and wound up staying second in the order, 0.106 seconds adrift of Russell.

 

Red Bull Racing’s Perez used his soft tyre stint to move in-front of Hamilton – 0.212 seconds off Russell’s benchmark – with the Mexican then spinning his RB18 racer in the turn 11 run-off area just after passing Aston Martin’s Vettel in the long race pace run that finished the session.

 

This stage was interrupted by Latifi pulling off on the rapid run that follows turn eight and the fake marina at the Miami International Autodrome.

 

The Canadian was concerned with his left-rear tyre not being attached properly before reporting a lack of drive, after which he pulled off his FW44 racer, stopping near a gap in the walls, which lead to a second flag of the afternoon, which lasted four minutes.

 

The end of FP2 saw two more spins – Vettel going round at the same point as Perez, not in the turn 11 run-off, having let Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu through on the inside and the German lost grip on the outside line.

 

Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen also spun off at turn seven in similar circumstances to Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas’s opening practice crash there – the Dane, however, came through tighter from the inside kerbs and therefore went off and with much slower speed, which meant he kept out of the barriers.

 

Behind the top four, Alpine’s Alonso was fifth and in-front of McLaren’s Lando Norris who placed sixth, AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly who took seventh and Alfa Romeo’s Zhou who was eighth.

 

The other Alpine A522 entry of Ocon ended the day ninth and ahead of Magnussen who completed the top ten.

 

The aforementioned Sainz was 11th and in-front of McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo who was 12th and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda who finished FP2 in 13th.

 

Aston Martin’s Vettel and Lance Stroll were 14th and 16th respectively as Haas F1 Team’s Schumacher split the duo in 15th.

 

Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon and the aforementioned Latifi finished FP2 in 17th and 18th respectively.

 

The aforementioned reigning world champion Verstappen and Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas both ended second practice at the rear and unable to post a lap-time.

 

Bottas’ C42 racer was being repaired following his FP1 shunt.

 

You can see the full Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix 2022 Free Practice 2 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1110/miami/practice-2.html

 

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#MiamiGP FP1: @CharlesLeclerc tops time-sheets ahead of @GeorgeRussell63. #F1

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