Sergio Perez spun in the long Turn 7 but avoided the walls and continued on, setting the second-fastest time with 15min gone, just 0.065sec behind Sainz who had continued to improve and was the first to dip into the 1min 30s.
But it was a now-familiar story for the Spaniard soon afterwards, as he lost the car at the fast Turn 13, heading towards the 14-15 chicane, spun and skidded into the barriers, his left-front suspension destroyed and his session over.
After crashing out in Australia and Imola, the Ferrari driver had been looking for a smoother weekend in Miami but was still top of the table when he crashed out and triggered a red flag.
It took 12 minutes to recover the Ferrari and reset the barriers, leaving 30min left in the session, which began with a series of soft-tyred runs.
Sainz back in the wall for the third race weekend in a row
Chandan Khanna / AFP via Getty Images
The pause allowed all of Red Bull’s mechanics to focus on Verstappen’s gearbox change. The reigning champion headed out for the first time in the session only to complain of being unable to steer with a hydraulic issue. The car was visibly difficult to manoeuvre and Lance Stroll only just avoided a collision with the lumbering Red Bull; Verstappen heading back to the pits so slowly that his rear brakes overheated, with flames licking the rear wing. He would not re-emerge.
At the same time, Mercedes drivers once again found themselves in unusual territory for 2022, despite their continued violent porpoising. George Russell became the first to go below 1min 30sec with a 1min 29.938sec lap on soft tyres, and Lewis Hamilton was 0.24sec behind.
That time was still fastest when Nicholas Latifi pulled over at the side of the track with 12min to go, complaining of a strange balance.
The Williams was quickly pushed to safety and the session restarted with 9min remaining. Most chose medium tyres and heavier fuel levels. Russell complained of bouncing that was even worse than on soft tyres.
Leclerc was the man on the pace in FP1 Miami but was second behind Russell in FP2
Clive Mason - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images
Drivers continued to struggle when they ran offline onto the dirtier sections of track. Perez missed his braking point and heading into the run-off while trying to pass Sebastian Vettel and Kevin Magnussen was caught out when running wide in Turn 7. Both cars emerged unscathed.
Russell remained at the top of the timesheet in a Mercedes resurgence, with 0.2sec covering him, second-placed Leclerc and Sergio Perez who was third
Miami GP Free Practice 2 times
Position |
Driver |
Team |
Best time |
1 |
George Russell |
Mercedes |
1min 29.938sec |
2 |
Charles Leclerc |
Ferrari |
1min 30.044sec |
3 |
Sergio Perez |
Red Bull |
1min 30.150sec |
4 |
Lewis Hamilton |
Mercedes |
1min 30.179sec |
5 |
Fernando Alonso |
Alpine |
1min 30.372sec |
6 |
Lando Norris |
McLaren |
1min 30.535sec |
7 |
Pierre Gasly |
AlphaTauri |
1min 30.547sec |
8 |
Zhou Guanyu |
Alfa Romeo |
1min 30.860sec |
9 |
Esteban Ocon |
Alpine |
1min 30.861sec |
10 |
Kevin Magnussen |
Haas |
1min 30.921sec |
11 |
Carlos Sainz |
Ferrari |
1min 30.964sec |
12 |
Daniel Ricciardo |
McLaren |
1min 31.208sec |
13 |
Yuki Tsunoda |
AlphaTauri |
1min 31.260sec |
14 |
Sebastian Vettel |
Aston Martin |
1min 31.393sec |
15 |
Mick Schumacher |
Haas |
1min 31.587sec |
16 |
Lance Stroll |
Aston Martin |
1min 31.631sec |
17 |
Alex Albon |
Williams |
1min 31.710sec |
18 |
Nicholas Latifi |
Williams |
1min 32.913sec |
19 |
Max Verstappen |
Red Bull |
No time set |
20 |
Valtteri Bottas |
Alfa Romeo |
No time set |
Miami GP Free Practice 3
Drivers were again very keen to get as much track time as possible, with both Red Bulls heading out immediately.
Verstappen set a 1min 34.037sec, apparently representative of the best race pace set on Friday, but this was immediately bested by Charles Leclerc as he clocked a 1min 32.250sec.
The Dutchman soon closed up to two tenths off, but for Lewis Hamilton things weren’t going so well – the Mercedes driver had to abort his first flying lap after getting a huge amount of oversteer at the start.
Ocon inspects the damage
Julien Delfosse / DPPI
Pierre Gasly continued to look impressive, the AlphaTauri driver going third on 1min 33.760sec, but more times were flooding in: Mick Schumacher shuffled him down before then spinning briefly later, and the Mercs started to show some pace too: 1min32.35sec meant George Russell was now third fastest, with Hamilton half a second off.
Verstappen got down to business, fastest with a 1min 31.355sec, but proceedings soon came to an end: the red flag was thrown out when Ocon had a heavy crash identical to Sainz’s shunt the previous day.
After a big clean-up things got back underway on 32 minutes, with most cars on track and space limited.
Some drivers were focusing on longer runs, but Bottas was on the move, the Alfa Romeo registering a 1min 31.885sec to put the Finn third.
Both Haas were looking solid, with Kevin Magnussen moving up the order sixth with a 1min 31.178sec.
Leclerc then put on a set of new set of softs looking for some faster runs, but others were struggling for grip. Norris almost hit the barrier after a big moment of oversteer, and Russell had to abort a lap as he struggled to put the power down early out of the opening turn.
The Ferrari’s fresh tyres paid dividends, and despite a moment running wide a 1min 30.981sec meant Leclerc was now fastest.
Russell again had oversteer, radioing in to tell the team: “Tyres are nowhere.” Gasly was having no such issues though: the Frenchman was now fourth fastest with a 1min 31.901sec.
Mercedes ended session 15th and 17th
C. Tilton/Getty Images
Hamilton improved also as he managed to set a 1min 31.890sec, but he was no match for the Red Bulls who put on softs late on.
Both Milton Keynes boys topped the table – Verstappen with a 1min 30.649sec and Perez 0.05sec away.
More fast laps were flooding in soon after: Albon did a late flyer similar to FP1 meaning the Williams driver was 1.1sec off the ultimate pace, before Ricciardo then went slightly faster, a 1min 31.756sec putting him fourth briefly before more laps shuffled them down the order.
This was due to the sun going in and the track cooling – Perez emphasised this by going quickest with a 1min 30.304sec, whilst Vettel went fourth, 0.745sec off the Mexican.
Verstappen then scared himself by bouncing over the uphill chicane and losing the car, managing to get it stopped a couple of feet away from the barrier.
A bit of reverse gear and the Red Bull was on its way, the car undamaged.
As proceedings came to an end, it was Perez who was top, with Leclerc just under two tenths off, Verstappen 0.345sec off in third and Alonso 0.75sec off the Mexican.