George Russell put Mercedes quickest at the end of Friday’s running for the Miami Grand Prix as Carlos Sainz Jnr crashed out of the session.
The Ferrari driver had been sitting atop the timing screens in the second practice session when he lost control and spun into the outside barriers at turn 14, causing significant damage to his car.Max Verstappen’s difficult day continued with an apparent hydraulics failure leading to a fire on his right-rear wheel on his one and only lap of the session.
The air temperature had only dropped a single degree as the cars ventured out onto the circuit for the second and final Friday session. All runners opted for the medium compound tyres in the early minutes as they looked to gain long run data after acclimatising themselves with the circuit in the earlier session.
Following his first practice crash at turn seven, Valtteri Bottas was forced to sit out the entirety of the session as the Alfa Romeo mechanics continued to rebuild his car.
Carlos Sainz Jnr set the early pace, clocking a 1’30.964, with Sergio Perez just over half a tenth behind in second. However, Sainz’s promising early performance came to a sudden end when he lost control of his Ferrari on the exit of turn 13 and spinning into the barriers, causing major damage to his car.
The red flags stopped the session as Sainz climbed from his wrecked Ferrari, proceedings stopped for around ten minutes while the wreckage was cleared.
Eventually the session restarted, but Verstappen, who had yet to set a time, immediately reported heavy steering on his Red Bull. As he made his way around the lap, his car became more and more hard to control, until a tell-tale fire began to appear on Verstappen’s right-rear brake assembly. Verstappen managed to recover his car slowly back to the pits, getting in the way of many of his rivals in the process, but would remain in the garage for the rest of the hour.
With many teams moving onto the soft tyres, Lewis Hamilton briefly went quickest of all, until Charles Leclerc relived the Mercedes of the top spot with his first effort on the red walled tyres. George Russell then became the first driver to breach the 90 second barrier, posting a 1’29.938 to go fastest of all.
The red flags were flown for a second time in the hour after Nicholas Latifi pulled off the circuit at turn nine after reporting his concerns that one of his wheels was not attached securely to his Williams. That stopped the session and ruined many long runs for those out on the circuit at the time.After another short delay, the session resumed a second time. Magnussen had a spin at turn seven, similar to Bottas’s accident in first practice, but managed to avoid the barriers, unlike the Alfa Romeo. Sergio Perez and Sebastian Vettel both separately spun their cars at turn 11, but were able to recover.
With no improvements at the top of the timing screen, the chequered flag signalled that Russell would end Friday as fastest for Mercedes, only the second time a Mercedes has finished top of a practice session this season.
Leclerc ended the day in second, a tenth from Russell’s best time of the session. Perez was third fastest in the Red Bull, almost three hundredths of a second ahead of Hamilton in fourth. Fernando Alonso was fifth fastest for Alpine, ahead of Lando Norris, Pierre Gasly, Zhou Guanyu and Esteban Ocon. Magnussen rounded out the top ten.
Report to follow
2022 Miami Grand Prix second practice result
| Position | Number | Driver | Team | Model | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | W13 | 1’29.938 | 18 | |
| 2 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | F1-75 | 1’30.044 | 0.106 | 21 |
| 3 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | RB18 | 1’30.150 | 0.212 | 19 |
| 4 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | W13 | 1’30.179 | 0.241 | 18 |
| 5 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine-Renault | A522 | 1’30.372 | 0.434 | 20 |
| 6 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | MCL36 | 1’30.535 | 0.597 | 20 |
| 7 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Red Bull | AT03 | 1’30.547 | 0.609 | 20 |
| 8 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | C42 | 1’30.860 | 0.922 | 24 |
| 9 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | A522 | 1’30.861 | 0.923 | 20 |
| 10 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | VF-22 | 1’30.921 | 0.983 | 19 |
| 11 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | F1-75 | 1’30.964 | 1.026 | 9 |
| 12 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren-Mercedes | MCL36 | 1’31.208 | 1.270 | 23 |
| 13 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Red Bull | AT03 | 1’31.260 | 1.322 | 23 |
| 14 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin-Mercedes | AMR22 | 1’31.393 | 1.455 | 23 |
| 15 | 47 | Mick Schumacher | Haas-Ferrari | VF-22 | 1’31.587 | 1.649 | 21 |
| 16 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | AMR22 | 1’31.631 | 1.693 | 23 |
| 17 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams-Mercedes | FW44 | 1’31.710 | 1.772 | 21 |
| 18 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | FW44 | 1’32.913 | 2.975 | 14 |
| 19 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | RB18 | No time | 1 | |
| 20 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | C42 | No time | 0 |
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2022 Miami Grand Prix
- Why TecPro barriers weren’t used at Miami chicane where Sainz and Ocon crashed
- Miami’s track surface is ‘a safety issue and does not offer good racing’ – Russell
- Miami Grand Prix draws F1’s largest live US television audience
- Alpine complain they had no say over penalty which cost Alonso points
- Red Bull wary of Ferrari’s high-speed cornering strength in Barcelona
daniel
7th May 2022, 0:04
Merc are back big time, poirposing looks good too. As a Ham fan would love Russel getting his first win he is a brit afterall. Never thought id chear for a Ham teammate but a guy who beat Lando easy in F2 is alot younger than Ham. Good thing is in race pace Ham as been a better and a match in 3/4 races id say could be a cracker
neiana
7th May 2022, 5:34
Something else to keep in mind, Hamilton has long had issues at ‘new’ tracks as he takes longer than others to get used to a track the first time or a long-time return. He does, however, typically get ‘on track’ by race day. I do not expect 2 tenths plus to be the quali difference nor the race difference. Heck, he might even take the win.
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
7th May 2022, 15:03
I’m not sure porpoising is that good, looking at some Russel footage. He’s had lots of it at some points. But like Ferrari, if it’s fast, then so be it. Certainly still an area in heavy development for every team though, good for them if they manage it better now.
daniel
7th May 2022, 16:32
@spoutnik You are correct it was bad but to me Ham car looked fairly good with it. They use to bounce badly in corners it seems abit better now imo.
daniel
7th May 2022, 0:06
A Russel pole would be a first aswell. Maybe getting ahead of myself but would be awesome seeing Merc back init the hate on twitter is hilarious.
Mayrton
7th May 2022, 12:36
Mercs have been there for a decade. I’d rather see other cars upfront.
AMG44 (@amg44)
7th May 2022, 0:40
Merc’s lower down force package is good sign for upcoming races. They still need to get rid of more porpoising and the Barcelona update is crucial for their season.
Redbull is melting in the heat.
Bill
7th May 2022, 1:25
Red Bull has been hit hard by the heat. These cars are not used to heat like this. Hopefully the drivers drink plenty of water for the race.
HJ
7th May 2022, 10:32
A couple of years ago heating of the engine was a Mercedes problem.
Qeki (@qeki)
7th May 2022, 1:27
As once a wise man said: “Free Practice is a small step for a team but a giant lead for the media.”
elchinero (@elchinero)
7th May 2022, 1:42
Oy!
Yesterday’s practice does not count in today’s qualifying.
LyndaMarks
7th May 2022, 1:44
Can’t say i think much of the track overall.
Sector 1 isn’t bad i guess but i don’t like how just as its starting to get into a nice flow that turn 6/7 then slows in a weird way on the exit which hurts the flow.
Then sector 2/3 is just a boringly long drs straght with an awful fiddly section at the end, a truly horrid chicane that is one of the worst corners on the calendar and then another boringly long drs straight into an ok hairpin and 2 nothing corners.
The pit exit is also awful and i saw several near misses while watching some of the incar camera feeds today.
superman
7th May 2022, 2:22
Latifi, Schumacher, Ricardo and Sainz are close to done. The clock is ticking….
mogrid
7th May 2022, 6:03
Excitable? Sainz just signed an extension, Ricciardo is always slow to learn a track, Latifi has a dog (but money to burn) and Schumacher is a baby with the one of the biggest names in the game.
Mayrton
7th May 2022, 12:40
Partly agree. Sainz was hired as nr 2 driver to support Charles so is probably allowed to stay but surely needs to start bringing in some points for the team. Mick & Daniel are imho the ones in danger. Latifi’s money will keep him safe probably.
f12007v (@f1fan-2000)
7th May 2022, 5:14
Again, russel whopping lewis. I suspect ferrari have more in hand though they go alot faster in quali.
daniel
7th May 2022, 6:53
@f1fan-2000
Lewis was not whopped atall he had a sector 3 that was 2 tenths faster than Russel on a lap. His best sector times were only just behind if hd nailed the lap. Lewis is well in the game.
David BR (@david-br)
7th May 2022, 11:02
There’s no argument, George Russell is leading the way at Mercedes during this early part of the season, just as impressive as hoped/expected.
Carlos Sainz?! It’s getting silly now. I’m not sure I’ve seen a driver throw away such a big chance for a great season so consistently. OK it’s only practice but it doesn’t bode well for qualifying or the race.