Russell recovers from steering rack delay to lead Mercedes one-two in first practice

George Russell overcame a delay of more than 20 minutes in the garage to go quickest ahead of team mate Lewis Hamilton in first practice in Miami.

After his mechanics replaced the steering rack on his car, Russell set the fastest time in the final minutes on soft tyres to top the times, two tenths ahead of Hamilton. Charles Leclerc was third fastest for Ferrari, ahead of Max Verstappen, who was quickest for much of the earlier part of the session.

It was a hot and humid start to the second Miami Grand Prix weekend with ambient temperatures just below 30C when the green light signalled the start of the opening hour of practice. Drivers immediately found that the fresh, resurfaced circuit offered very little grip – especially off the racing line – with Verstappen reporting as much over his radio.

Kevin Magnussen was the first driver to set a lap time with a 1’38.852, but that was quickly eclipsed by Esteban Ocon and his first lap in the Alpine by four-hundredths of a second. Verstappen then went fastest of all on his first lap of the weekend on the hard compound tyres, despite running wide and off the circuit at the turn one.

George Russell reported steering problems on his Mercedes and returned to the garage while he team changed the steering rack on his W14. He would remain in the garage for around 20 minutes as his mechanics reverted his car to an earlier spec of steering rack, eventually getting back out onto the circuit at the midpoint of the session.

Nyck de Vries had a spin at turn 12, having to swing his AlphaTauri around to continue on his way. He was briefly investigated by the stewards for “dangerous driving” due to the manner in which he rejoined the circuit, however the stewards quickly determined no fault had been committed by the AlphaTauri driver.

Nico Hulkenberg put Haas on top of the times with a 1’31.392 on the soft compound tyres, but that was later beaten by Verstappen by three tenths of a second as the championship leader put on the soft tyres for the first time. Then Hulkenberg lost the rear of his car rounding the fast right hander of turn three and spun into the outside barrier, causing significant damage to his car and bringing out the red flags for the first time in the weekend.

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After a delay of just under 10 minutes, the session resumed with 17 minutes of the session remaining. Verstappen immediately improved on his own best time, setting a 1’30.549. The two Ferraris of Carlos Sainz Jnr and Leclerc improved to go around half a second slower than Verstappen, also on the soft tyres, with Fernando Alonso fourth fastest for Aston Martin.

Drivers continued to struggle for grip in the final laps of the session, with Alexander Albon running off at the hairpin of turn 17. Pierre Gasly had to catch a snap of oversteer that saw him run off at the marina hairpin.

However, there were no such difficulties for the Mercedes duo of Hamilton and Russell, who took to the track in the final minutes on soft tyres. They both jumped to the top of the times, with Russell’s 1’30.125 beating Hamilton by two tenths of a second.

With the chequered flag signalling the end of the session, Mercedes’ one-two in the opening hour of practice was officially confirmed. Leclerc moved ahead of Verstappen in the final minutes to end the session in third, dropping Verstappen down to fourth ahead of Sainz in fifth.

Gasly was sixth-fastest for Alpine, ahead of the two Aston Martins of Alonso and Lance Stroll. Hulkenberg remained ninth despite his crash, with Ocon completing the top ten in the second Alpine.

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2023 Miami Grand Prix first practice result

Position	Number	Driver	Team	Model	Time	Gap	Laps
1	63	George Russell	Mercedes	W14	1’30.125		18
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	W14	1’30.337	0.212	24
3	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	SF-23	1’30.449	0.324	23
4	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	RB19	1’30.549	0.424	22
5	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	SF-23	1’30.724	0.599	23
6	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	A523	1’31.104	0.979	20
7	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR23	1’31.231	1.106	24
8	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR23	1’31.337	1.212	24
9	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	VF-23	1’31.392	1.267	14
10	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	A523	1’31.542	1.417	27
11	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	RB19	1’31.566	1.441	22
12	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’31.810	1.685	24
13	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	VF-23	1’31.853	1.728	25
14	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C43	1’31.902	1.777	24
15	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	FW45	1’31.903	1.778	25
16	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’31.997	1.872	23
17	24	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C43	1’32.134	2.009	22
18	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Red Bull	AT04	1’32.169	2.044	28
19	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams-Mercedes	FW45	1’32.619	2.494	27
20	21	Nyck de Vries	AlphaTauri-Red Bull	AT04	1’34.637	4.512	10

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2023 Miami Grand Prix

• Verstappen picks Miami Grand Prix as his best drive of 2023 so far
• Albon “maximised most races this year” despite single point scored to date
• A sign the upgrades worked? Ferrari see an upside to Leclerc’s Miami crashes
• Red Bull ‘surprised other teams under-delivered’ with their 2023 cars
• F1’s driver intros are right for US market but wouldn’t work at Silverstone – Horner

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