Verstappen surges clear as Leclerc shunts in second Miami practice

Despite reporting issues with his headrest, two-time world champion Verstappen set a new benchmark during the soft tyre runs in FP2 to end up 0.386s clear of the Ferrari pair headed by Carlos Sainz. 

• F1 2023 Miami Grand Prix - Friday Practice Results

Leclerc was third-fastest, 0.468s adrift of Verstappen, before the Monegasque caused a late red flag when he slammed into the wall at Turn 8, with the impact destroying the front-right of his car. 

Sergio Perez narrowly avoided a crash with AlphaTauri driver Nyck de Vries on his way to fourth as he once again lagged behind Red Bull teammate Verstappen, this time by nearly half a second. 

RED FLAG

Leclerc into the barriers at Turn 7 #MiamiGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/5D0ryqyp3G

— Formula 1 (@F1) May 5, 2023

Fernando Alonso was seventh for Aston Martin, ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who was the fastest Mercedes driver in seventh but almost a second off the pace. 

After leading a surprise Mercedes 1-2 in opening practice, George Russell finished down in 15th after he failed to get a clean lap in on the soft tyres. 

Lance Stroll, Esteban Ocon and Alex Albon completed the rest of the top-10 order for Aston Martin, Alpine and Williams respectively. 

Following Nico Hulkenberg’s FP1 crash, Kevin Magnussen nearly replicated his Haas teammate’s crash but somehow managed to avoid hitting the barriers after a spin.