Max Verstappen was fastest in third practice for this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix, after going four tenths faster than the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. Red Bull look like the team to beat this weekend with the team topping both FP2 and FP3 as they look to continuing to be the team to beat.
Verstappen set his fastest lap about three-quarters of the way through the session, extending his lead following the long runs steadily in the final quarter of the hour session. Sergio Perez had gone second before Leclerc went a tenth faster as the session ended.
Perez’s victories in both the Sprint and race last weekend in Azerbaijan has led to much discussion about an intra-Red Bull title battle, but Verstappen appears to be in a league of his own at the Miami International Autodrome.
Carlos Sainz couldn’t find the pace of the front runners going fourth eight hundredths behind Perez, but the Spaniard was the driver who completed the most laps. Alpine continued to show the strong pace of with Esteban Ocon going sixth two hundredths faster than teammate Pierre Gasly.
Throughout much of the middle portion of the session as teams sought to catch up with the long-run simulations they’d missed out on during FP2 following Leclerc’s late crash.
Alpine looked to take advantage of upgrades after their difficult weekend in Baku, showing some pace as they were three hundredths ahead of Valtteri Bottas. Their were several teams in the top ten with Nico Hulkenberg going eighth seven hundredths ahead of Alex Albon with George Russell going tenth.
Russell and Mercedes looked to struggle a bit with balance as he did in FP2 with Lewis Hamilton thirteenth. Mercedes has struggled to unlock performance in practice at street circuits and Russell was a surprised knock out in Q1 in Jeddah. Kevin Magnussen was eleventh.
The slippery surface saw lots of drivers struggle for grip, with Albon and Lando Norris among several who went off track. The challenging conditions look set to ensure a tense Qualifying session, with mistakes likely to be a major factor as the drivers push their cars to the limit.
Norris continued to show the difficulties McLaren are having this season down in nineteenth two hundredths behind teammate Oscar Piastri.
Aston Martin didn’t look to have the same pace as in the first four races, with Fernando Alonso beaten by a hundredth behind the Haas. Lewis Hamilton was thirteenth a hundredth behind his former teammate as he spilt the two Aston’s, with Lance Stroll just five thousandths behind the Mercedes.
GuAnyu Zhou was fifteenth going a tenth faster than Yuki Tsunoda and Logan Sargeant was seventeenth for Williams ahead of his home Grand Prix, followed by the two McLaren’s. Nyck De Vries rounding out the field in twentieth, nearly two seconds off the outright pace.
