Leclerc flexes Ferrari's muscles in Miami's only practice session

Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Antonelli completed the top five this afternoon. The championship leader was unable to set a lap time on the soft tyres due to a power unit issue. George Russell finished sixth, while Lando Norris set the seventh quickest time but encountered traffic on his promising lap.

It was an unexpectedly calm practice session in Miami. During the 90 minutes, the yellow flag was waved only on a single occasion after Gabriel Bortoleto went wide in Turn 11.

Ahead of the weekend in the United States, it was announced that FP1 will be 90 minutes long on this occasion after minor tweaks to the regulations during the April break. When the green flag was waved, Carlos Sainz and the two Ferrari drivers were among the first to go out on track. Aston Martin was unable to get out on track early on due to power issues in the Silverstone-based team's garage.

30 minutes into the session, Antonelli was leading ahead of Leclerc, Norris, Verstappen and Hamilton with a 1:30.0 lap time on the hard tyres. His teammate Russell reported strange noises coming from his car, comparing it to a steam train, but he did not know where it was coming from.

By the halfway point of the session, Leclerc took the lead on a set of hard tyres. The Monegasque driver set a 1:29.8 lap time and moved ahead of Antonelli, Hamilton, Norris and Verstappen. With 30 minutes to go, Leclerc remained in the lead.

The frontrunners began switching to soft tyres in the final 15 minutes. Leclerc was around three tenths quicker than Verstappen in second place. Norris was also on a promising lap in the closing minutes but found himself in traffic, while Antonelli was unable to set a lap time on the softs due to a power unit issue Mercedes could not fix in time before the chequered flag.