F1: Russell leads Mercedes 1-2 in opening Miami GP Practice

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Leaving their fastest run right to the end, the Mercedes F1 drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton turned the fastest laps in opening practice for the Crypto.com Miami GP.

Russell’s lap of 1m30.125s beat his teammate by 0.212s on the newly surfaced and still somewhat green Miami Gardens track.  Those were very impressive laps from the Mercedes drivers.

George Russell

Charles Leclerc was third quick for Ferrari while his teammate Carlos Sainz rounded out the top-5 in the second Ferrari.

Max Verstappen was 4th for Red Bull, but he focussed on long runs on the hard tire late in the session.

It was a tricky session for many, with a dusty track catching a few out. Hulkenberg was the one to really cause some damage by properly connecting with the barriers, while de Vries also lost some running after a spin earlier on.

Practice 1 Results

POS NO DRIVER CAR TIME GAP LAPS
1 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:30.125 +0.000s 17
2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:30.337 +0.212s 24
3 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:30.449 +0.324s 22
4 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:30.549 +0.424s 22
5 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:30.724 +0.599s 22
6 10 Pierre Gasly ALPINE RENAULT 1:31.104 +0.979s 19
7 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:31.231 +1.106s 24
8 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:31.337 +1.212s 23
9 27 Nico Hulkenberg HAAS FERRARI 1:31.392 +1.267s 14
10 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 1:31.542 +1.417s 26
11 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:31.566 +1.441s 22
12 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:31.810 +1.685s 23
13 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 1:31.853 +1.728s 24
14 77 Valtteri Bottas ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 1:31.902 +1.777s 23
15 23 Alexander Albon WILLIAMS MERCEDES 1:31.903 +1.778s 24
16 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:31.997 +1.872s 23
17 24 Zhou Guanyu ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 1:32.134 +2.009s 21
18 22 Yuki Tsunoda ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT 1:32.169 +2.044s 27
19 2 Logan Sargeant WILLIAMS MERCEDES 1:32.619 +2.494s 26
20 21 Nyck De Vries ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT 1:34.637 +4.512s 10