Red Bull’s Max Verstappen topped Friday Practice for 2023 Miami Grand Prix.
Verstappen arrived Stateside as the Championship leader but finished fourth in a tight FP1 topped by Mercedes’ George Russell, which featured the first of two red flags across both sessions.
The reigning two-time champion however proceeded to top FP2 from Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc in a more dominant session.
Now, here is a full roundup of Friday Practice for 2023 Miami Grand Prix.
FP1
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was first out on track but it was Haas’ Kevin Magnussen who set the initial benchmark of 1m 36.852, although Alpine’s Esteban Ocon went 0.040 seconds quicker briefly until Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg went fastest in the sixth minute.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton quickly displaced Hulkenberg just moments later on medium tyres, only for Verstappen to post 1m 34.054 on hard tyres to go top a minute later.
Hamilton and Verstappen then traded fastest laps in the 12th minute before the Dutchman lowered his benchmark to 1m 31.826, ahead of Alonso and Leclerc heading into the soft-tyre qualifying simulations.
Hulkenberg was the first driver to switch to soft tyres which saw him go fastest with 1m 31.392 just before the half-hour mark, only for Verstappen to go 0.338s quicker in the 32nd minute as Sergio Perez slotted into third.
The red flags however were out two minutes later after Hulkenberg lost control through Turn 2 and spun out into Turn 3, with the session suspended for nine minutes as his car was removed before Williams’ Alex Albon led the field back out.
Verstappen on the restart lowered his benchmark to 1m 30.549 which went largely unchallenged, until Hamilton popped up in the closing minutes with 1m 30.337 to go top.
Russell meanwhile struggled with an unidentified technical issue in the early minutes which limited his running, as he prioritised medium tyre data-gathering, yet managed to post 1m 30.125 on soft tyres at the checkered flag to top the session.
Hamilton, Leclerc, Verstappen and Sainz rounded out the top five as everyone except AlphaTauri’s Nyck De Vries set their time on soft tyres, with the Dutchman’s best timed lap instead set on the hard tyre.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1m 30.125 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.212 |
| 3 | Charles Leclec | Ferrari | + 0.324 |
| 4 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.424 |
| 5 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.599 |
| 6 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 0.979 |
| 7 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 1.106 |
| 8 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.212 |
| 9 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 1.267 |
| 10 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 1.417 |
| 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 1.441 |
| 12 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 1.685 |
| 13 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 1.728 |
| 14 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 1.777 |
| 15 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 1.778 |
| 16 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 1.872 |
| 17 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 2.009 |
| 18 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 2.044 |
| 19 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 2.494 |
| 20 | Nyck De Vries | AlphaTauri | + 4.512 |
FP2
Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou were first out on track but it was Alonso who set the initial benchmark time of 1m 32.115, before Sainz, Leclerc, Perez then Verstappen swiftly set the pace.
Sainz then posted 1m 30.128 to go quickest in the ninth minute but Leclerc went 0.631s quicker, whilst Magnussen caused a brief yellow flag as he spun upon entry to Turn 14 and slid across the run-off of the chicane through into Turn 15.
Up front, Verstappen posted 1m 29.380 to go top in the 13th minute ahead of the soft-tyre Qualifying simulations, which saw Norris knock Verstappen off top spot in the 21st minute with 1m 28.741 to go fastest from his teammate – Oscar Piastri.
Verstappen responded with 1m 28.255 in the 28th minute then lowered his benchmark time seven minutes later to top the session with 1m 27.930, ahead of Sainz and Leclerc.
Leclerc however disrupted the race simulation runs after he locked up upon entry into Turn 7 and couldn’t regain control, as his Ferrari slid into the barriers at Turn 8 to bring out a seven minute red flag but the session eventually resumed and finished without further trouble.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1m 27.930 |
| 2 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.385 |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.468 |
| 4 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.489 |
| 5 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.730 |
| 6 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.811 |
| 7 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.920 |
| 8 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.000 |
| 9 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 1.007 |
| 10 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 1.116 |
| 11 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 1.168 |
| 12 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 1.241 |
| 13 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 1.251 |
| 14 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 1.259 |
| 15 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 1.286 |
| 16 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 1.409 |
| 17 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 1.463 |
| 18 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 1.683 |
| 19 | Nyck De Vries | AlphaTauri | + 1.998 |
| 20 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 2.108 |
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