Photo: Red Bull Media House

F1 Miami GP FP3: Verstappen fastest in final practice

Max Verstappen was the fastest driver in the final practice session as some drivers struggled with their setups.

He set a time of 1m.27.535s and was followed by  Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez  who were  +0.406 and + 0.515 off the pace respectively

Lewis Hamilton was unhappy at the start of the session with his car setup as he found himself locking up early in the session.

It took the McLarens 15 minutes before we first saw them come out of the pitlane, with the team already seemingly happy with the setup of the car for the weekend.

After 15 minutes of running the order of the field had Max Verstappen sitting at the top of the times, and then in P2 it was the sister car of Sergio Perez, with Fernando Alonso rounding out the top 3.

The strong FP1 for Mercedes seemed to have not carried over the rest of their weekend, with George Russell saying on the radio the pace of the car was ok but was struggling with the overall pace.

Then with 30 minutes of the session to go it was still Max Verstappen sitting at the top, but it was the two Ferraris now applying pressure on him, with Sainz in second position sitting just +0.456 off of Verstappen.

Turn 17 was striking again today with Alonso and Alex Albon running wide there with lock-ups, for Albon this was partly due to being in the wrong mode.

Oscar Piastri had a bit of a moment with Perez in the pits, as the McLaren driver had to test his breaks to avoid making contact.

Then with 11 minutes to go in the session, the track really started to ramp up with drivers like Albon and Bottas finding themselves setting times good enough for sixth and fifth.

A lot of drivers were struggling with their cars, as Logan Sargent was complaining about his Williams with only 4 minutes remaining in session before Qualifying.

Even with the track improving though Max Verstappen’s super time from earlier in the session kept him top by over four tenths.

 

 

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