John N
Sergio Perez put Red Bull top of the charts in final practice ahead of the Miami Grand Prix, with championship leader Charles Leclerc slotting into second.
The Mexican clocked a 1m 30.304s on the soft tires at the Miami International Autodrome, with his teammate Max Verstappen set to go quickest only to lock up on the run-up to the chicane. He did well to keep the car out of the barriers and ended up third overall – Leclerc splitting the Red Bulls. Fernando Alonso was the leading midfield runner in fourth, 0.732 off the pace.
Collective "phew" in the Red Bull garage! 😲#MiamiGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/zUKTp00H0D
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 7, 2022
But it wasn’t so good for Alpine teammate Esteban Ocon, who crashed at Turn 14, bringing out the red flag. The Frenchman was taken to the medical center as a precaution, as the impact was over the G-force limit set by the FIA, but he was given the all-clear.
Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel was one of many drivers to improve on their lap times in the latter stages of the session, as the track rubbered in. He was fifth, ahead of the Haas driver Mick Schumacher.
Esteban Ocon's FP3 comes to an abrupt end 😖#MiamiGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/R5VKa7Q88W
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 7, 2022
After crashing at the chicane, Carlos Sainz had a tough time in FP2 but clocked up a lot of mileage and ended up seventh quickest, half a tenth of a second ahead of Kevin Magnussen. Alex Albon continued his fine form in Miami by putting his Williams an impressive ninth; McLaren’s Lando Norris completed the top 10, 1.290s off the pace.
Yuki Tsunoda led AlphaTauri and put his car in 11th; teammate Pierre Gasly said he was bouncing around “like a kangaroo” as he ended up in 16th place.
Lance Stroll was 12th, ahead of McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo and the Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas. Mercedes had looked quick on Friday, but Saturday – while watched on by former First Lady Michelle Obama – they struggled to repeat that form.
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton was down in 15th while teammate George Russell, who during the session said on team radio that his tires were “nowhere,” was 17th.
Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu was 18th, ahead of Nicholas Latifi, with Ocon propping up the classification, failing to set a lap time. His Alpine team now faces a race against time to get the car ready for qualifying.
