Max Verstappenwas quickest in the only practice session for the Miami Grand Prix weekend ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.
Despite complaining about the lack of grip he had in his Red Bull, Verstappen managed to set the best time of a 1’28.595 on soft tyres in the closing minutes. “The tyres are way too hot,” he told his team at the end of the session. “I have no grip. It’s like driving on eggshells.”Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc’s session ended after ten minutes following a spin on the exit of turn 16 left him stranded in the centre of the track.
With just an hour of practice to prepare their cars for all the competitive sessions to follow over the rest of the weekend, drivers were eager to make the most of the time available. A lot of drivers complained about a lack of grip around the temporary circuit, while Verstappen even ran off at the hairpin at the end of the long back straight.
While some drivers chose to stick to harder compounds, Verstappen used softs at the end of the hour to go fastest, one tenth ahead of Piastri’s McLaren and Carlos Sainz Jnr in third. George Russell was fourth for Mercedes ahead of Lance Stroll, with Sergio Perez sixth in the second Red Bull.
Lewis Hamilton was seventh having set his best time on the medium compound, with Yuki Tsunoda in eighth ahead of the two Alpine drivers, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly.
Leclerc was slowest of all having completed just a single push lap on hard tyres at the start of the session before his spin. While Leclerc had kept his engine running, he was unable to find room to spin-turn his Ferrari and his overheating clutch prevented him from reversing. Eventually, he was forced to switch off his car and climb out, ending his session after a total of three laps.
Fernando Alonso was also low down the order in 19th, having run the entire session on hard tyres. Lando Norris battled throughout the hour with a peculiar problem with his McLaren having asymmetrical steering. While Norris was informed that he would have to put up with the unusual steering feeling for practice, McLaren insisted that they would be able to fix the issue for the evening’s sprint qualifying session.
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2024 Miami Grand Prix first practice result
| P. | # | Driver | Team | Model | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda RBPT | RB20 | 1’28.595 | |
| 2 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren-Mercedes | MCL38 | 1’28.700 | 0.105 |
| 3 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | SF-24 | 1’28.711 | 0.116 |
| 4 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | W15 | 1’28.784 | 0.189 |
| 5 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | AMR24 | 1’28.817 | 0.222 |
| 6 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull-Honda RBPT | RB20 | 1’28.868 | 0.273 |
| 7 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | W15 | 1’29.012 | 0.417 |
| 8 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB-Honda RBPT | 01 | 1’29.056 | 0.461 |
| 9 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | A524 | 1’29.163 | 0.568 |
| 10 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine-Renault | A524 | 1’29.175 | 0.580 |
| 11 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB-Honda RBPT | 01 | 1’29.178 | 0.583 |
| 12 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | VF-24 | 1’29.189 | 0.594 |
| 13 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas-Ferrari | VF-24 | 1’29.314 | 0.719 |
| 14 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams-Mercedes | FW46 | 1’29.393 | 0.798 |
| 15 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Sauber-Ferrari | C44 | 1’29.445 | 0.850 |
| 16 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | MCL38 | 1’29.495 | 0.900 |
| 17 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber-Ferrari | C44 | 1’29.636 | 1.041 |
| 18 | 2 | Logan Sargeant | Williams-Mercedes | FW46 | 1’29.891 | 1.296 |
| 19 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin-Mercedes | AMR24 | 1’30.023 | 1.428 |
| 20 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | SF-24 | 1’32.099 | 3.504 |
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2024 Miami Grand Prix
- McLaren had superior pace before Verstappen’s damage in Miami – Norris
- Sainz ‘struggles to understand’ why he got penalty when Perez didn’t
- Alonso’s unusual brake problem and more unheard Miami team radio
- McLaren’s Miami upgrade success points to even stronger form in coming races
- Norris expects more wins this year and believes “100%” in 2025 title bid
Nick T.
3rd May 2024, 18:50
One thing common to the new generation of stars often billed as champions in waiting seems to be inconsistency in either pace and/or being accident prone: Leclerc, Russell, Norris, Piastri and Sainz all come to mind with the first two topping the list of in terms of finding their way into the wall, other cars or just solo spins while Norris’ Achilles heel is not putting together quali laps, Piastri seems just not to have the outright race pace and while not this season so far and finally Sainz who though has no distinct problem in those three areas also seems not to be the strongest in any of them either (though not so far through the first four races).
Nick T.
3rd May 2024, 18:52
Wish I had an edit button (for the bit after Piastri). lol
SteveP
3rd May 2024, 19:58
You missed out the ever famous “Crashstappen” – he spent much of his first four seasons bending parts of his car with other people’s cars, or where those weren’t available, the crash barriers.
I’m sure a bit of research will pull up more, and further back.
An Sionnach
4th May 2024, 1:45
Ah sure, the boys need not worry, then. It’s not often that you get someone who’s fast, good and consistent. Max, Schumacher, Prost, Lauda, Clark, Fangio… who’d want to share company with them?!?
If you bottle it now and then you’d better have other-worldly powers when you don’t, like one of them other champions…
Jere (@jerejj)
3rd May 2024, 18:51
Leclerc’s situation was initially weird, but ultimately unfortunate that his spin happened at a corner with limited space around & that he failed at fully turning the car around at the first full-lock attempt.
Nick T.
3rd May 2024, 18:53
The top right square of Brundle bingo says “steering lock of a cross-channel ferry!”
frood19 (@frood19)
3rd May 2024, 22:14
Not really unfortunate – he shouldn’t have spun the car. Really he was fortunate it didn’t happen in the race.