Miami Grand Prix Results: What Happened In FP1?

Your Sports Illustrated guide to the Miami Grand Prix FP1 session.

The Miami Grand Prix weekend is underway with the first free practice session coming to a close.

The majority of drivers were running the circuit on hard tyres whilst a handful opted to go for the softs. 

George Russell took the top spot on the time sheets followed by Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.

Fans heard George Russell complaining over the Mercedes team radio of steering issues before heading back into the pits for the team to work on the car. The British driver managed to get back out on track with only a small portion of the session remaining. The Brackley-based squad shared an update to social media:

"Both cars back on track and making the most of the remaining minutes of this opening practice. George and Lewis are out of sync with the rest of the field on this current programme, meaning they are right down at the bottom of the timesheets."

Both cars back on track and making the most of the remaining minutes of this opening practice.

George and Lewis are out of sync with the rest of the field on this current programme, meaning they are right down at the bottom of the timesheets.

— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) May 5, 2023

Both Mercedes drivers went back out on soft tyres at the end of the session, taking the top spots on the timing sheets. 

The session was put under red flag conditions for nine minutes when Nico Hulkenberg lost control of the rear of his Haas at Turn 3 and collided with the race wall. Luckily, the driver was ok and the team are working on the car in order to get it ready for FP2 in a couple of hours. 

Grip seems to have been a problem for the drivers despite the new track surface. Nyck de Vries went off in the early stages of the session leaving the AlphaTauri team also having to undertake repairs ahead of FP2 later. Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Alex Albon both also ran wide at Turn 17.

Miami GP: FP1 Results

1. George Russell
2. Lewis Hamilton
3. Charles Leclerc
4. Max Verstappen
5. Carlos Sainz
6. Pierre Gasly
7. Fernando Alonso
8. Nico Hulkenberg
9. Esteban Ocon
10. Sergio Perez
11. Lance Stroll
12. Oscar Piastri
13. Kevin Magnussen
14. Valtteri Bottas
15. Alex Albon
16. Lando Norris
17. Zhou Guanyu
18. Yuki Tsunoda
19. Logan Sargeant
20. Nyck de Vries