F1: Perez tops final practice for Miami GP
A late improvement for Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, despite his soft tyres being 11 laps old, leapfrogged him ahead of Max Verstappen into second, but it was Red Bull’s Sergio Perez who led the way in final practice for the Miami GP by a couple of tenths. Behind, there are all sorts of interesting results.
Perez set a time of 1m30.304s to beat Leclerc by 0.194s .
His teammate Max Verstappen was on a fast lap that looked set to beat Perez only to touch a curb with his left rear, almost sending into the barriers, but he saved it and settled for 3rd best.
Veterans Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel and Haas youngster Mick Schumacher rounded out the top-6, all 0.7s back. Very close.
Both Mercedes drivers were out to lunch so far in today’s hotter track conditions.
Qualifying begins in just under two hours’ time, and it could be a bar burner. Perez, Leclerc, Verstappen – will Sainz get in the mix? Are Mercedes dropping off the pace or sandbagging? Can Alonso, Vettel, Bottas or Norris join the fray? It looks set to be incredibly tight
Practice 3 Results
| POS | DRIVER | TIME | GAP | LAPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:30.304 | +0.000s | 20 | |
| 2 | 1:30.498 | +0.194s | 23 | |
| 3 | 1:30.649 | +0.345s | 20 | |
| 4 | 1:31.036 | +0.732s | 17 | |
| 5 | 1:31.049 | +0.745s | 23 | |
| 6 | 1:31.050 | +0.746s | 18 | |
| 7 | 1:31.172 | +0.868s | 23 | |
| 8 | 1:31.227 | +0.923s | 20 | |
| 9 | 1:31.501 | +1.197s | 14 | |
| 10 | 1:31.594 | +1.290s | 18 | |
| 11 | 1:31.659 | +1.355s | 23 | |
| 12 | 1:31.665 | +1.361s | 21 | |
| 13 | 1:31.728 | +1.424s | 18 | |
| 14 | 1:31.885 | +1.581s | 25 | |
| 15 | 1:31.890 | +1.586s | 19 | |
| 16 | 1:31.901 | +1.597s | 18 | |
| 17 | 1:31.924 | +1.620s | 18 | |
| 18 | 1:32.051 | +1.747s | 16 | |
| 19 | 1:32.376 | +2.072s | 16 | |
| 20 | No Time | – | 3 |