F1: Select Friday Team Quotes from Miami

After months of anticipation the brand-new Miami International Autodrome roared into life on Friday with a busy day of action both on and off the track. Topping the timesheets after two hours of free practice was the Mercedes of George Russell. The British driver completed 18 laps to set the fastest time of 1m 29.938s, just 0.106 seconds ahead of the Ferrari of World Championship points leader Charles Leclerc.

Both practice sessions were held in beautiful sunny conditions with the thermometer reaching 93 degrees F when the F1® cars emerged from the pit lane for the first time. As the thousands of fans around the 5.41km track enjoyed the South Florida weather, they were treated to a dramatic day of action as the drivers got up to speed at Formula 1®’s newest venue.

In the first few minutes of first practice, a couple of drivers spun including Leclerc, who pirouetted his Ferrari at Turn 1. His team-mate Carlos Sainz also rotated at Turn 4 late into the session and suffered a front-right puncture. FP1 was briefly suspended following a crash for Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas. The Finnish driver spun turning into Turn 7 and hit the barriers opposite the MIA Marina and didn’t take part in afternoon practice. In the closing stages, the track began to ramp up with grip and Leclerc finished fastest with a 1m31.098s lap just 0.071s quicker than George Russell’s Mercedes.

Things started to heat up in the second practice hour in the afternoon. The Miami Gardens venue once again proved to be an exciting driving challenge for the world’s best racers. Just 18 minutes in, another red-flag was flown after Sainz crashed coming out of Turn 13 and mechanical issues reduced Max Verstappen’s track-time to just a single lap in the afternoon.

Between the two F1® free practice sessions, the all-female W Series racers took to the track for their 30-minute familiarization of the Miami International Autodrome with the fastest time being set by British racer Alice Powell.

The Miami International Autodrome is hosting the inaugural Formula 1® Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix this weekend and featured a number of events in the build-up to the first on-track running. Race week activities got underway on Wednesday evening with the Opening Party with Musical Performances presented by Heineken® that wowed fans with a spectacular concert and F1® driver and team principal introductions from the podium.

That was preceded by the official opening of the track when the first lap was completed by Formula 1® Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix Managing Partner Tom Garfinkel who drove a McLaren Senna supercar around the 5.41km circuit with Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross as his passenger. The pair were followed on-track by both McLaren F1 Team drivers Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo who piloted a pair of McLaren Elvas. Afterwards Formula 1® Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix Ambassadors Emerson Fittipaldi and Juan Pablo Montoya gave passenger laps to both celebrities and Miami Dolphins players.

Mercedes

George Russell
We always knew that the warm conditions here in Miami would suit our car better – we’ve suffered with getting temperature in the tires at previous races so that’s a big factor here. The car is running well but it’s only Friday, we’re not getting carried away. It’s probably been the most productive Friday we’ve had this season in terms of learning. We know that the porpoising will always be there but maybe it’s working at a lower range compared to where we were previously. You generally have races that go in your favor and some that go against you – Imola obviously wasn’t a strong circuit for us but from what we’ve seen so far, the car seems to work well around Miami. It’s a unique circuit, I was a bit unsure how I would take to the slow-speed tight section underneath the bridge, it’s a bit of a head-banger through there, but for the rest, they’ve done an amazing job – undulating in sections, with high-speed corners, I think it’s great for the fans.

Lewis Hamilton
Today is just practice and everyone is doing something different, not showing their true pace, so we won’t get carried away. The car feels similar to me but we seem to be quicker and we’ve obviously improved in places. We still have the bouncing so we haven’t cured it but bit by bit, we’re improving the car. The race is going to be tough, particularly with the tires overheating and it’s very hot for the drivers, I’ve already lost a couple of kilos today. The heat reminds me a little bit of driving in Malaysia – Kuala Lumpar is still number one in terms of the heat, then Singapore, and now here in Miami. There are positive elements to take from today, George looked great out there and the team are trying a lot of different things with our cars, so we’ll converge and hopefully take another step forward tomorrow.

Andrew Shovlin
A busy but encouraging day, a few red flags interrupted our program but we managed to get through most of the work. We had a few aerodynamic updates to try here which we are still assessing but overall, we look to have made some progress. In terms of set-up, we had some comparisons that we have been running throughout the day across the cars and initial results look interesting. We’ll do a bit more analysis before deciding what we carry into tomorrow. There’s plenty for us to improve with the car balance, tire overheating is also quite an issue, and the sessions around the middle of the day are very hot so keeping the rear tire temperatures under control is a challenge. Those will be our main areas of focus to try and improve. There will also be chunks to find working on single lap balance and also the ride, there are a couple of notable bumps here that unsettle the car, but overall it’s a solid start, especially compared to our recent Fridays.

Ferrari

Charles Leclerc
It was a good day. We focused on building up our pace little by little and learned quite a bit about this new track. It is challenging and really nice to drive, with my favorite part being the one from turn 11 to turn 16 in the second sector.
Things went smoothly on our side and we tested everything we planned to. It looks like everyone is close together, which should make for an exciting weekend.
The asphalt will spice things up. There is very high grip on the racing line and very low grip off it, which will make it difficult to overtake. It is also rather aggressive on tires, so it will be important to manage them well throughout the race.

Carlos Sainz #55
Obviously not the best way to start the weekend after a costly snap ended our Friday early. Still, I feel the car was competitive and I have confidence in our performance.
It’s pointless to dwell on today, so we’ll put our full focus on tomorrow and the race.
The extra work for the mechanics is the worst part, so I’ll definitely speak to them and the rest of the team. I look forward to tomorrow.

Red Bull

Sergio Perez
“It’s been a difficult day for every driver today. I think it was a very messy session this afternoon, in total I did one medium lap and two soft laps. On the high fuel there was nothing we could do because of all the red flags and the time we lost. We are basically going blind into the race and I think most people are in the same boat as us. For qualifying we have more of an idea, but things can change very quickly with the weather around here. There isn’t much grip off the racing line on this track and it feels very gravely out there too, it is a shame because I think racing will be hard due to that. Saying that, I think it is going to be an interesting race because all of us don’t know exactly where we are.”

Max Verstappen
“It was not a good day for us, we wanted to get out there and learn the track and get fully up to speed but things didn’t go to plan. We just had some hydraulic issues, as soon as I went out I couldn’t really steer and also my breaks were on fire, so there were a few problems. We don’t have a huge amount of information and data for my car which could prove difficult for qualifying and the race but we will do our best. Of course, I will try to catch up tomorrow, we will work very hard as a Team to overcome the issues and hopefully we will be in a good place come qualifying tomorrow.”

Alfa Romeo

Valtteri Bottas (car number 77):
“It’s annoying to miss out on most of the day, but there is still a long way to go in this weekend. Unfortunately, I went slightly on the dirtier part of the track and lost the rear, and when that happens you cannot catch the car back. We damaged the exhaust and the turbo and it was impossible to get the car fixed in time for FP2. It means we need to really maximize the last hour of practice tomorrow: thankfully, the team has made good progress with Zhou and it seems the set-up direction we have taken, with the changes the team made on his car for FP2, is the right one. For what I could experience, the track is good fun: it’s technical and challenging, but nice to drive, and the twisty section towards the end is definitely difficult to get right. I think they did a good job in designing a track that should offer good overtaking opportunities, so hopefully the racing will be fun. The focus for me, however, is to catch up on the time we lost today.”

Zhou Guanyu (car number 24):
“I am pretty happy with how the day has gone, especially with the progress we have made between FP1 and FP2. It was quite tricky out there: it’s fun to go to new tracks, but of course the surface is always an issue at the beginning of the weekend. It was very, very slippery, we do expect it to evolve a lot, but we have to find out exactly how much tomorrow. I quite enjoyed driving here today, it was a challenge, but it was interesting. For me, especially with Valtteri not being able to do FP2, it was key to get as many laps in as possible to get as much data as we could: in that regard, we did well and we have enough to work with to prepare for qualifying. My objective for tomorrow is not changing: I want to keep progressing, make it to Q2 and then do the best I can to see how far high I can get.”

Aston Martin

Lance Stroll
“Going to a new venue is always fun, and they have created an interesting track here in Miami that offers a good driving challenge. Turns Four to Seven are a fun sequence of corners and allow you to attack. The sessions were disrupted with a few red flags, which is never ideal when you are learning a new track, but we did what we could. The energy around this weekend has been awesome so far and I am excited for qualifying tomorrow, when dealing with traffic on a busy track will be especially challenging.”

Sebastian Vettel
“I think we have made a good start to the weekend, but I feel that there is still room to tweak our car and adapt to the track. It is a tricky circuit and most of the corners are blind, which makes it difficult in terms of navigating traffic. This will likely be an important factor in qualifying, especially in Q1 when you need to find space. The red flags today disrupted some of our running, but we adapted as best we could because you want to get as many laps as possible on a new circuit. There is still pace on the table and if we can make some progress overnight we can hopefully edge closer to the top 10 tomorrow.”