Verstappen tops second practice as Leclerc crashes

Max Verstappen was firmly in charge of proceedings after the end of second practice for the Miami Grand Prix, the Red Bull successfully posting a time almost four tenths quicker than Ferrari's Carlos Sainz.

Sainz' team mate Charles Leclerc was third quickest but the Monegasque ended the session early by going into the wall at turn 8 and triggering the only red flag stoppage of the session.

Sergio Perez was fourth followed by Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton, but morning pace setter George Russell struggled to get a clear run amid traffic and technical headaches and ended up a lowly P15.

• 2023 Miami Grand Prix - Free Practice 2 results

It was still hot and sticky in Miami as the cars headed out for the second time on Friday for the latest one-hour round of practice ahead of Sunday's Grand Prix. Earlier in the day Mercedes had enjoyed a surprisingly strong run with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton topping the timesheets at the end of FP1 thanks to a well-timed late run on the soft tyres, following a red flag for a crunching accident for Haas' Nico Hulkenberg not long after a less bruising spin for AlphaTauri's Nyck de Vries.

First out on track this time were Alfa Romeo pair Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu, both in need an injection of pace after a poor couple of races. They were followed out by the two Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll. They weren't out there on their own for long with the majority of other drivers - including Hulkenberg and de Vries - soon heading out on an assortment of medium and hard tyres seeking to generate some grip from the slippery new race surface of the Miami International Autodrome street circuit.

Alonso set the early pace with a time of 1:32.115s, two tenths clear of Bottas until first Carlos Sainz and then his Ferrari team mate Charles Leclerc took over at the top. Inevitably the reign of red didn't last long before Max Verstappen went quickest with a time of 1:30.146s, sixth tenths ahead of his Red Bull partner Sergio Perez in second. However there was plenty of time to find from the evolving track as temperatures finally started to cool and the usual accumulation of dust and dirt was moved off the racing line.

Leclerc found more time to go top again on 1:29.497s, but others were finding the circuit a handful. Kevin Magnussen clipped the wall at turn 15 and was lucky to escape without damage to his Haas, and Lewis Hamilton also finding things a handful. Meanwhile Verstappen was once again complaining about his headrest getting caught on his HANS device restricting his freedom of movement, although that didn't get in the way of cutting the gap to Leclerc back to a tenth - and then going top next time around on 1:29.380s.

Perez' own hopes of matching Verstappen on this occasion ended with a near miss with de Vries. The AlphaTauri had started the session on soft tyres, but the majority of cars waited until the 15 minute mark before pitting to take on the red-wall rubber and embarking on qualifying runs. On the new tyres, Lando Norris immediately went six tenths quicker than anyone to date with a time of 1:28.741s, well ahead of his McLaren team mate Oscar Piastri, with Alex Albon similarly shooting up to fourth between Verstappen and Leclerc on the soft compound.

Alonso's first lap on the soft tyres split the two McLarens for second, and Sainz then got within a tenth of Norris. A front lock up thwarted Leclerc's first flying lap on the soft tyre, and even Perez was unable to find the speed to match Norris. Finally it took Verstappen to do the deed, taking back control with a time of 1:28.255s having been held up on pit lane while Red Bull mechanics resolved his headrest issue under the watchful eye of the FIA technical delegate.

Leclerc finally punched in a clean lap to go second, a tenth and a half slower than Verstappen, while Alonso was up to fifth ahead of Stroll, Albon and Magnussen. Morning pacesetter George Russell was struggling, aborting his first run and then only P16 after hitting traffic on his follow-up lap. His team mate Hamilton meanwhile was up to seventh, with Sainz now moving up to second place six hundredths off Verstappen and Perez improving to P4 and just 0.164s covering the top quartet - that is, at least until Verstappen pushed on and set a new milestone time of 1:27.930s.

The session continued accident free despite a scare for Albon at turn 17 at the halfway point, the Williams opting to bail out of the corner rather than risk it and hit the barrier. When it became clear he wasn't going to make it round in one piece he took to the cramped run-off and then executed a quick handbrake turn to put him back on track pointing in the right direction. Russell also continued to to struggle with his W14, reporting to the Mercedes pit wall that "I think it's three-wheeling through the left-hander, through turn 2" before improving to P15.

That was the end of the qualifying simulations for the day, and teams spent the last 20 minutes on longer run, higher fuel simulations, meaning there was no opportunity for significant improvements in existing lap times. Russell continued to find the Mercedes a handful and had to execute a 'Scandi-flick' after locking up at turn 11, while Alonso was surprisingly sanguine about being held up by his old Alpine team mate Ocon. It wasn't until Leclerc lost the rear of the SF-23 and ran into the wall at turn 8 with a little over ten minutes remaining on the clock that the session was interrupted for a red flag, as the slightly crumpled Ferrari was retrieved by the track workers.

The session was able to resume for a final four minute spell. When the chequered flag called an end to the track time the drivers then used the opportunity to conduct some practice starts. Verstappen remained firmly on top of the timesheets by 0.385s from Sainz, Leclerc and Perez with Alonso fifth ahead of Norris, Hamilton and Stroll, and Ocon ninth from Albon. It had an unusually mixed-up feel and suggested that there was still all to play for on Saturday before the crucial qualifying session and Sunday's race.

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