Perez ends Miami practice on top as Ocon crashes

Sergio Perez led the final practice session for the Miami Grand Prix while team mate Max Verstappen suffered a scare when he narrowly missed the barrier with a late spin.

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He was in a better position than Esteban Ocon, however, as the Alpine driver crashed early on and failed to set a time.

Verstappen, who missed out on so much running during first and second practice, was eager to get out on track when the session began. The world champion left his garage on medium tyres for an apparent long fuel run.

With many other drivers having missed out on running yesterday due to the red flags in second practice, several joined him, while Charles Leclerc opted for soft tyres instead.

Verstappen set an early fast lap on the mediums, only to be beaten by Leclerc with a 1’31.706 on the soft tyre. Verstappen then reclaimed the top spot, beating Leclerc’s time comfortably – despite remaining on the medium tyre – at 1’31.355.

Gasly’s car was “bouncing like a kangaroo”/caption]Less than a quarter of an hour into the session, Ocon spun backwards into the concrete barriers at turn 14, in an almost identical shunt to that of Carlos Sainz Jnr the previous day. The session was red-flagged and Ocon’s car taken back to the pits with significant damage to its front suspension.

Alpine confirmed their driver was taken to the medical centre for checks but cleared to return to his team. It remains to be seen if his A522 will be repaired in time for him to participate in qualifying.

The session restarted with 33 minutes remaining and a line of cars keen to get back out on track. The soft tyre runs began in earnest in the final 20 minutes of the session but no driver was initially able to best Verstappen’s medium tyre time. Eventually, with 17 minutes to go, Leclerc set a 1’30.981 to beat the Red Bull at last.
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[caption id="attachment_478597" align="alignright" width="470"] Perez set the pace ahead of qualifying

Sergio Perez, Red Bull, Miami International Autodrome, 2022 — Gasly’s car was “bouncing like a kangaroo”/caption]Less than a quarter of an hour into the session, Ocon spun backwards into the concrete barriers at turn 14, in an almost identical shunt to that of Carlos Sainz Jnr the previous day. The session was red-flagged and Ocon’s car taken back to the pits with significant damage to its front suspension.

Alpine confirmed their driver was taken to the medical centre for checks but cleared to return to his team. It remains to be seen if his A522 will be repaired in time for him to participate in qualifying.

The session restarted with 33 minutes remaining and a line of cars keen to get back out on track. The soft tyre runs began in earnest in the final 20 minutes of the session but no driver was initially able to best Verstappen’s medium tyre time. Eventually, with 17 minutes to go, Leclerc set a 1’30.981 to beat the Red Bull at last.
[leaderboard2]
[caption id="attachment_478597" align="alignright" width="470"] Perez set the pace ahead of qualifying

Pierre Gasly was shown the black and white flag for crossing the line at pit exit, after having a lap time cancelled. Later in the session he bemoaned his car’s handling, saying it was “bouncing everywhere like a kangaroo”.

As yesterday, drivers struggled to stay on-line, one clearly-rubbered pathway emerging with the rest of the track treacherously low in grip.

With 10 minutes to go, the Red Bull drivers reclaimed the top times. Verstappen set a 1’30.649 and Perez a 1’30.699 as times began to fall.

McLaren only started their soft tyre runs relatively late in the session, both drivers having gone out on hard tyres for their initial runs. Daniel Ricciardo leapt to fourth-fastest, from the rear-end of the times, on his first fast lap and Lando Norris to sixth. The pair were split by Alexander Albon’s Williams, once again well inside the top ten times.

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Perez improved to take the fastest time from his team mate and set a 1’30.304, beating Verstappen by more than three tenths of a second. Trying to beat it, Verstappen went sideways through turn 14, bounced over the inside kerb and came to a rest close to the wall at turn 15. Having spared his mechanics a last-minute repair job before qualifying, he was able to continue back to the pits.

Leclerc split the Red Bull drivers’ times just before the chequered flag, with no other drivers managing to improve into the top three. However Mick Schumacher set an impressive time to take sixth-fastest, Kevin Magnussen coming across the line after him in eighth.

Perez kept his top time, with Fernando Alonso, Vettel, Albon and Norris completing the top ten, without their team mates. Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, who showed promising pace yesterday, placed 15th and 17th respectively after final practice.

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Report to follow

2022 Miami Grand Prix third practice result

Position	Number	Driver	Team	Model	Time	Gap	Laps
1	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	RB18	1’30.304		21
2	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	F1-75	1’30.498	0.560	23
3	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	RB18	1’30.649	0.711	20
4	14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine-Renault	A522	1’31.036	1.098	18
5	5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR22	1’31.049	1.111	24
6	47	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari	VF-22	1’31.050	1.112	19
7	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	F1-75	1’31.172	1.234	24
8	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	VF-22	1’31.227	1.289	20
9	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	FW44	1’31.501	1.563	14
10	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL36	1’31.594	1.656	18
11	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Red Bull	AT03	1’31.659	1.721	24
12	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR22	1’31.665	1.727	22
13	3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL36	1’31.728	1.790	19
14	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C42	1’31.885	1.947	26
15	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	W13	1’31.890	1.952	20
16	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Red Bull	AT03	1’31.901	1.963	18
17	63	George Russell	Mercedes	W13	1’31.924	1.986	19
18	24	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C42	1’32.051	2.113	16
19	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	FW44	1’32.376	2.438	16
20	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	A522	No time		3

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2022 Miami Grand Prix

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7 comments on “Perez ends Miami practice on top as Ocon crashes”

Jere (@jerejj)
7th May 2022, 19:21

Ocon’s off was nearly identical to Sainz’s at the same corner. I don’t rule out more similar offs.

Jim from US (@jimfromus)
7th May 2022, 19:26

Some of the teams really need to fix the bouncing. Actually, surprised they haven’t fixed it already.

Srdjan Mandic (@srga91)
7th May 2022, 19:32

What a strange session! Mercedes at the back of the field, Vettel in the top 5 and quicker than Sainz(!).
Despite their low-downforce wing Ferrari are still painfully slow on the straights. I hope they can turn up their engine a bit more than RB, otherwise it’s gonna be a walk in the park for Max and Checo.
Behind the leading pair anything can happen. I wonder why the Mercs were so far off the pace this time. They were 2 sec off their FP2 times! There must be more to it than just the higher temperatures. Very strange.