After Red Bull and Verstappen’s long runs, McLaren can’t start celebrating yet

As usual, it is difficult to assess the teams’ true pace based on long runs in a sprint weekend. There were only ninety minutes of practice time available—the session was extended by thirty minutes to give teams more time to get back up to speed after the rule changes—during which multiple run plans for the rest of the weekend had to be tested.

Max Verstappen started on the hard tyre but switched to the medium for his long run, and ended the session with a few qualifying runs on the softs. Isack Hadjar followed exactly the same plan, while McLaren, Ferrari, and Mercedes chose to start on the hard tyre and run their long runs on it as well. This leaves Red Bull with a set of hard tyres for the sprint race or Sunday’s Grand Prix.

Although Mercedes was not exactly in the spotlight during Friday’s sessions in Miami, Kimi Antonelli and George Russell were the most competitive. Both ran shorter long runs than Verstappen and Hadjar, but averaged around 1:33.0. As usual, we never know what engine modes and fuel loads the drivers are using in these sessions, but Antonelli was clearly the fastest with a 1:32.947 average.

Russell was a tenth off his teammate. He then struggled in sprint qualifying as well, finishing behind Verstappen. However, on the hard tyre in the long runs, he was seven tenths faster than Verstappen. In Japan, Red Bull was still more than a second off, with even Alpine and Audi quicker. That is no longer the case, as the gap isn’t that big anymore.

After sprint qualifying and Lando Norris’s pole position, it is somewhat ironic that McLaren is actually the slowest team in the FP1 long runs. Both McLaren drivers averaged around 1:34—a second slower than Mercedes and about three to seven tenths slower than Verstappen. Hadjar was clearly slower in his long run, but it’s possible he was running different setups for testing. He averaged 1:34.667.

Although Russell had a strong long run on the medium tyre, he clearly struggled during sprint qualifying. He will have to start the sprint race from P6 and mount a small recovery drive to have a shot at victory. That means he has to pass Verstappen, as well as a Ferrari, two McLarens, and his own teammate. The Italian outfit seems to be Mercedes’ biggest rival, with Charles Leclerc the fastest.

He came closest to Antonelli and Russell with a 1:33.341 average. Lewis Hamilton, however, was only two tenths slower. Red Bull has clearly not closed the gap yet, but a Verstappen who feels good in the car is all the more of a threat. Friday’s sprint race should once again provide a slightly more complete picture of the ‘new’ pecking order.