Ferrari broke 1.31s at the start of the race, with Carlos Sainz at 1.31.787s before he was three-tenths behind Leclerc in the initial race.

That was still more than a second slower than George Russell’s benchmark in FP1, although Perez eventually pulled the pace with his 1m30.757s, which was eclipsed by Verstappen’s 1m30.146s.

Sainz posted a 1:30.128, three thousandths of a second off Russell’s 1:30.125 in FP1, but Leclerc then broke the 90-second barrier with a 1:29.497 to jump to the end of the clock board. top.

Verstappen was much closer to the Monaco, struggling with his headrest hanging from his helmet, and he was just a tenth off his next effort, but another incline propelled him to the top in 1m 29.380s.

The initial run was mostly on medium tyres, with the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri upping the ante on their opening lap on soft rubber.

Norris sprinted to 1m 28.741s, which withstood the siege for a considerable portion of the soft-tyre race’s headline time as Piastri came within six tenths of his first effort.

Fernando Alonso and Sainz then took turns finishing runners-up, but Norris was able to continue to defend the top spot – especially as Leclerc’s lock-up prevented him from taking advantage of the purple mid-section and passing from Norris.

Verstappen then ended Norris’ lead with a time of 1m 28.255s to set the best stage twice, although Sainz nearly passed his former Toro Rosso team-mate – 0.06s behind.

Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-23

Photography: Jack Grant / motorsport pictures

The Dutchman raised the bar and took the lead with a time of 1m 27.930s, leading the race into the final 20-minute stretch.

To the dismay of the engineers poring over the data, Leclerc slammed his Ferrari into a wall at Turn 7, leaving skid marks on the track surface as the rear wheel locked up, and the long run ended 10 minutes after the race. was interrupted.

This caused a five-minute delay as Leclerc’s car was rescued, although the meeting eventually resumed for one last attempt to gather long-term data.

Leclerc, who got the new gearbox before the game, finally remained the third fastest, second only to Verstappen and Sainz. Baku champion Perez was fourth – almost half a second behind his Red Bull team-mate at the end of the race.

Alonso overcame a quick attempt by Norris on the softs to move up to fifth, with the Briton landing sixth fastest and McLaren’s Baku update package appearing to have paid further dividends in Miami.

Lewis Hamilton overcame a number of big corners at tricky Turns 14-15 to finish seventh overall, less than a tenth faster than Lance Stroll, while Ace Teban Ocon and Alex Albon round out the top ten.

After nearly hitting the wall at turn 14, Kevin Magnussen largely kept his car out of the wall to finish 12th fastest behind Pierre Gass Lee (Pierre Gasly).

FP1 leader Russell was only 15th after running into traffic on his soft lap and complained about the car “three-wheeling” at Turn 2 as he struggled for speed.

F1 Miami GP FP2 Results: