Miami GP: Russell leads Mercedes 1-2 after late soft tyre run

A late switch to soft tyres enabled George Russell to lead a Mercedes one-two in Practice 1 at the Miami Grand Prix.

The Briton had a troubled start to the opening hour of action in Florida, as a developmental steering rack proved too heavy and had to be changed costing Russell valuable track running.

But in the closing minutes both he and teammate Lewis Hamilton headed out on the red-striped compound, with George finishing two-tenths faster than the seven-time world champion.

Charles Leclerc also made a late improvement to claim third for Ferrari, demoting Max Verstappen to fourth in the lead Red Bull.

The Dutchman had set the pace for much of the session, despite an issue with his HANS device restricting his head movement in the cockpit.

But after completing his best lap shortly after a brief red flag, Verstappen couldn’t respond to the late lap times as circuit conditions improved.

Carlos Sainz was fifth in the second Ferrari, ahead of another late improver in Pierre Gasly for Alpine.

Fernando Alonso led teammate Lance Stroll as the two Aston Martins sat seventh and eighth.

Nico Hulkenberg went quickest on soft tyres for Haas, but then caused the aforementioned red flag with a spin into the barrier at Turn 3 as a new track surface proved very slippery.

Esteban Ocon rounded out the top 10, ahead of Sergio Perez in P11 as the Baku race winner was among those caught out by the red flag.

Oscar Piastri was the lead McLaren in 12th, followed by Kevin Magnussen in 13th and Valtteri Bottas in 14th.

Alex Albon narrowly avoided disaster early on with a great save after bouncing over the kerbs at Turns 14 and 15 en route to P15.

Lando Norris only managed 16th, Zhou Guanyu took 17th and Yuki Tsunoda 18th. Florida’s own Logan Sargeant was 19th, with Nyck De Vries slowest after a spin.

The full top 10 can be seen below: