A late flier put Charles Leclerc in P1 as Formula 1 hit the track at the Miami Grand Prix for the first time in Practice 1.
In a busy final 10 minutes following a red flag caused by Valtteri Bottas, the Ferrari driver would set a 1m31.098s on the soft tyre to lead George Russell by just 0.071s in his upgraded Mercedes.
Max Verstappen only managed 14 laps due to overheating issues but still led Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez with two-tenths covering the leading quartet.
A strong lap from Pierre Gasly put the Frenchman in fifth ahead of Carlos Sainz after his session was compromised by a high-speed spin at Turns 4 & 5 causing a puncture.
A solid start. Let’s build on this through the weekend! ? pic.twitter.com/lvCcWf0mWc
— Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing) May 6, 2022
Alex Albon impressed in seventh for Williams with Lewis Hamilton eighth, almost eight-tenths slower than teammate Russell.
Kevin Magnussen was another driver to improve late up to P9 for Haas as Daniel Ricciardo completed the top 10 for McLaren.
Lando Norris followed the Aussie in 11th while the two Alpines made a steady start in 12th and 15th for Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon respectively.
The Frenchman may also be in trouble with the stewards after an unsafe release into the path of Russell in the early moments of the session.
? RED FLAG ?
Valtteri Bottas loses the back-end of the car and hits the wall ?
He’s out of the car, and on his way back to the paddock#MiamiGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/5Fa7hrs8J6
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 6, 2022
Bottas caused the only red flag after spinning into the barrier at Turn 7, damaging his rear wing.
There was also a scary moment for Mick Schumacher, who had to avoid a suddenly slowing Ricciardo on the back straight towards Turn 17.
A few corners were proving problematic with plenty of lock ups into Turn 1 and a few brushes with the barrier exiting Turn 16 after the tricky off-camber chicane.
Buy with some early laps in the bank, it will be interesting to see how the order changes as setups are tweaked heading into FP2 later on Friday.
Full results from Practice 1 can be seen below:
? CLASSIFICATION (END OF FP1) ?
Leclerc, Russell and Verstappen lead the way in @f1miami #MiamiGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/Mf4L58Zj0G
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 6, 2022