@Max33Verstappen tops #MiamiGP FP1 session as @CharlesLeclerc spins out. #F1

Verstappen Miami GP FP1 – Championship leader Max Verstappen was quickest in the sole 60-minute session at the Miami GP ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri as Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz rounded out the top three.

Verstappen posted the session-topping benchmark with a 1:28.595 on the C4 red side-walled Pirelli Soft tyre and was 0.105 seconds clear over Piastri as Sainz was a further 0.116 seconds adrift of the Dutchman.

The Dutchman went to the top of the order in the early phase before the red flag came out but struggled as FP1 resumed with his Honda-RBPT-powered RB20 racer, which appeared to be lacking balance in the majority of the only 60-minute practice session ahead of Sprint Qualifying.

A lock-up at the turn 17 left-hand hairpin had messes up one lap and had an excursion at the turn 14-15 chicane costing the reigning world champion another attempt at registering a time on the board, as Verstappen was sitting 19^th overall as the rest of the field started improving as the Miami International Autodrome began rubbering in.

Although he faced the challenge of a gust of wind on his initial hot-lap on the softer compounds, which forced him to abort his flyer, Verstappen shook it off and placed his RB20 on top posting the 1:28.595 effort.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc suffered a spin at turn 16, which brought out the red flag, as the Miami International Autodrome proved too narrow for the Monegasque to immediately rotate his SF-24 the right way around. Leclerc was unable to engage into reverse a second time to complete his turn around due to an overheated clutch, the Ferrari driver had to stop and jump out of his car.

This produced a five-minute halt as Leclerc’s SF-24 entry was removed from the track, before teams returned back to the circuit at the green flag to make use of the short time left.

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez then hit the head of the time-sheets on a 1:29.632 on a used set of the C3 mediums, with the two Mercedes entries closely behind featuring new floors, but the Mexican was knocked off P1 by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz’s 1:29.346 on the C2 white-marked Hard rubber as the first half hour was complete.

The Spaniard then lowered the benchmark slightly with a 1:29.331, which remained the quickest through the next 15 minutes of proceedings as the focus switched to long race run data gathering. McLaren’s Lando Norris sandwiched in-between Sainz and Perez, 0.164 seconds adrift of his former McLaren team-mate’s effort, after working through a front suspension problem earlier in the session.

With 10 minutes left on the clock, soft tyre runs emerged with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly put no longer overweight A524 racer to the top, posting a 1:29.175.

Sainz then reclaimed P1 with a 1:28.979, but his time at the top of the pile was brief as George Russell placed his W15 entry at the head of the order setting a 1:28.910.

Perez then strung together a 1:28.869 to move to the top of the classification, despite losing time in sector one from an encounter with a slow-travelling Sauber, but this was beaten by Verstappen’s time-topping effort as the three-time world champion eventually put together a great lap.

Piastri then disrupted the changing order behind the Red Bull driver, 0.105 seconds behind as the Australian pipped Sainz at the end by a very slim 0.011 seconds.

Russell took fourth in the classification as Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll crept into fifth place as Perez was demoted to sixth and a tenth clear of the other Mercedes of Sir Lewis Hamilton.

RB’s Yuki Tsunoda was eighth as Alpine duo Esteban Ocon and Gasly completed the top ten.

RB’s Daniel Ricciardo finished Free Practice 1 outside the top ten in 11^th and ahead of Haas F1 Team pairing Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg who were 12^th and 13^th whilst Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon finished the session 14^th.

Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas ended FP1 in 15^th and 17^th respectively as McLaren’s Norris split the duo in 16^th.

Home favourite Logan Sargeant took 18^th in his FW46 Williams entry as Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and the aforementioned Leclerc brought up the rear.

You can see the full Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix 2024 Free Practice 1 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2024/races/1234/miami/practice-1.html

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