Max Verstappen finishes on top in FP2, as Leclerc crashes out

Max Verstappen has claimed the top spot in the second free practice session of the Miami Grand Prix, finishing with a lap time of 1:27.930 around the street circuit. It wasn’t plain sailing for the whole hour, however, as the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz put up a fight with the team driver. However, Leclerc was the first driver in the session to hit the barriers, as he caused a red flag in the final 10 minutes of the session.

The continuous battle between Red Bull and Ferrari was witnessed throughout the session, with all four drivers switching the lead and claiming the top four spots come to the end of the hour. In the end, it was Verstappen who finished on top, with Sainz and Leclerc trailing behind, but Perez wasn’t too far behind.

As for Mercedes, their performance in FP1 was by far the better session. Both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell found themselves struggling at points, with the two Brits finishing in seventh and 15th, respectively.

Fernando Alonso and Lando Norris found themselves amongst the title contenders today, as they had enough pace to place themselves within the top five on many occasions. Norris led the session at one point but ended in sixth, with Alonso one place better in fifth.

The Spaniard’s teammate Lance Stroll trailed closely behind, however, as he claimed the eighth spot ahead of Esteban Ocon. Norris’ teammate Oscar Piastri struggled and claimed the 16th spot, whilst Pierre Gasly missed out on the top 10 by one place.

Alex Albon slotted himself into tenth, whilst also having some strong laps throughout the hour, with Williams’ American rookie Logan Sargeant finishing at the rear of the grid, but only ended up being one second behind his teammate.

It was an extremely quiet session for all six drivers, with the most action coming from Kevin Magnussen spinning and grazing the barrier in the first 20 minutes. The Dane only just clipped the side so was able to carry on for the rest of the session and finished in 12th place. As for his teammate Niko Hulkenberg, Haas were able to work on his car and finish in time to get him back on track following his crash in FP1. The German ended the session in 17th place.

Alfa Romeo were steadily pacing themselves throughout the hour, with the duo of Guanyu Zhou and Valtteri Bottas finishing in 13th and 14th.

As for AlphaTauri, Yuki Tsunoda and Nyck de Vries were only able to best an 18th and 19th place finish, respectively.