FP2: Verstappen heads Ferrari duo in second Miami practice

F1 Grand Prix, GP Miami, Miami

Following the eye-catching perfromance from the Mercedes drivers in the opening practice, reigning world champion Max Verstappen bounced back in the afternoon session to head Ferrari's Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc with a new unofficial track record.

Although he was overtaken by the Mercedes drivers in the dying minutes of the first practice session, Max Verstappen appeared to be the fastest earlier which he could confirm when drivers completed the second 60-minute outing on the resurfaced Miami International Autodrome.

The reigning champion set an unofficial lap record in Miami with a 1m27.930s before displaying eye-catching long run performance on high fuel.

The Ferrari duo of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc took second and third respectively, but were unable to get close tot he championship leader, finishing the second almost four tenths of a second. The Monegasque ended the session prematurely, bringing out the only red flag of FP2 when he wrestled with a snap of oversteer, locked up and sent his Ferrari SF-23 into the barriers at Turn 7.

Following his win in last weekend’s F1 Baku Sprint, Sergio Perez kicked off his weekend in low-key form, but managed to up his game in the second practice, taking fourth behind the Ferraris.

With his upgraded McLaren, Lando Norris briefly led the session when soft-tyred running began which was mainly down to his impressive time in the tricky first sector. In the end, the Briton ended up sixth fastest behind Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.

The Anglo-German outfit displayed great pace in the opening session, ending the first outing with a one-two, but fell back in the second session. Hamilton’s teammate George Russell took 15th, running wide at Turn 11 on his high fuel run.

Alpine were unable to show the effect of their new package in Baku due to their issues, but they appeared to be in the mix for point-scoring places today with Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly taking 9th and 11th respectively.

AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda took P18 in front of his team mate De Vries. Williams racer Alexander Albon ended in a strong P10 while his teammate Logan Sargeant rounded out the standings, around two seconds off the pace.