F1 drivers still looking for the right grip in Miami

Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Just like the first practice session, the second ahead of the Miami Grand Prix saw drivers fighting to find grip on the track

Two practice sessions are in the books, and much like the first session, the second practice session ahead of the Miami Grand Prix saw the drivers struggling to find the right level of grip all over the track.

The second practice session saw Max Verstappen atop the time sheets, ahead of the Ferrario duo of Carlos Sainz Jr. and Charles Leclerc. Sergio Pérez posted the fourth-fastest time of the session, ahead of Fernando Alonso.

Leclerc brought out a red flag near the end of the session, when he oversteered into Turn 8, and skidded off the track and into the barriers:

Leclerc was not the only driver trying to keep things straight on the track. Haas driver Kevin Magnussen slid off the track at Turn 15, and was lucks to avoid serious damage:

His teammate Nico Hülkenberg had a crash of his own in the first session, which brought out a red flag.

Then there was George Russell, who had an incident of his own when he locked up the left front, causing his Mercedes W14 to skid off the track. Russell was able to avoid any contact with the barriers as that section of the circuit gives drivers a lot of room:

Following the second practice session, drivers and teams alike talked about the lack of grip at the start of the day, but noted that over time it seems like the track is picking up more rubber, which is improving conditions.

“A useful first day of racing in Miami. We learnt a lot on what was quite a tricky track surface and temperature for FP1. In FP2 the track gripped up and got a lot faster, and we have some work to do to adapt to that,” said McLaren driver Oscar Piastri. “We were trying a few things throughout the session but we’re still working on it. It’s not been a bad day, but we’ve got plenty to look over for tomorrow.”

“Miami is a unique event and the venue is great, so it feels awesome to be racing in front of the American crowd. It’s a new track for me and grip levels are extremely low, so you get quicker with each lap that you do,”{ said AlphaTauri driver Nyck de Vries in the post-practice media statement. “Even though the temperature is quite high, tyre warm-up seems to be a challenge because they need a long time before they perform. There is something to find in that area, so we’ll analyse this tonight and hopefully come back stronger tomorrow. Looking at our performance today, we are not where we wanted to be, but we’ll try to put all the pieces together.”

AlphaTauri Chief Race Engineer Jonathan Eddolls outlined the issues the team dealt with during the two sessions. “It hasn’t been such a straightforward Friday for us today. Both drivers have been struggling with overall grip and find it hard to extract the lap times,” he said.

“Yuki completed a front wing comparison in FP1 with positive results, so this will be retained for the rest of the weekend. It’s not a game-changer and works better with the aero components we have coming on stream in future, but it is still adding performance with this package. This morning Nyck had a small spin in the twisty section of Turn 11 and Turn 12 and just touched the wall with the rear end of the car, but the damage was enough to have to stop the session and swap the gearbox for FP2,” added Eddolls. The mechanics did a great job to turn the car around, and having missed out on running the Soft compound in FP1, it left him with two sets for FP2. On the other side of the garage, Yuki ran on the usual Medium and Soft tyres.”

Still, Eddolls is optimistic that the surface will eventually play out as it did a year ago.

“Again, there were no big balance limitations for either driver, but they just lacked grip, so we need to review the setup and tyre usage overnight,” added the AlphaTauri Chief Race Engineer. “Due to the red flags, we didn’t get good long-run data for tyre understanding, but the new tarmac here doesn’t seem to be having such an impact on tyres, so the race will likely be a similar story to last year. We all have a busy night ahead of us to try to find some grip and lap time, as the performance we have shown today is falling short of our expectations.”

Alfa Romeo driver Valtteri Bottas, who was 14th-fastest in both sessions, noted after the second practice session that the surface was slowly improving. “It was important to get as much time as possible on track today and, despite the red flags, we managed to have a productive session. The new asphalt made the track quite slippery at first, but the surface improved as the sessions progressed,” said Bottas. “The car feels balanced and, in terms of performance, we feel a bit closer and a bit better than in Baku. It’s more or less where we expected to be today: of course, the objective is to make a step forward with the setup overnight and try to be as far ahead as possible in qualifying. The field is really close so there’s all to fight for.”

The Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell set the pace in PF1, but had a more disappointing second session. Hamilton found himself in P7 during the second session, with Russell down in P15. Both drivers pointed to the grip, or lack thereof, on the Miami surface.

“I’m going to stay optimistic and hopeful that we can get the car in a better place for tomorrow, and maybe be a couple of positions further forward than today. We weren’t particularly quick, and it was a struggle out there.,” said Hamilton in the team’s post-race report for the media. “The grip is quite low on this new surface. It is slippery, particularly for the rear-end. The track temperature today was very high so there was lots of sliding.”

“I think going into Sunday there will be a few unknowns. The track has been resurfaced this year but it’s still not performing like another circuit,” added Russell. “It’s a true outlier. I think that’s cool in some regards, but it could be difficult to race on. You can’t afford to drive offline as you lose all grip.”

As for the team everyone is chasing, Red Bull, both Pérez and Verstappen noted the issues with grip over the course of the first two practice sessions. “The conditions out there aren’t great, especially the grip in FP1, it felt like inter to wet tyre conditions. Getting a read in these low grip conditions is tricky but there are only very small margins to ensure we make improvements,” said Pérez in Red Bull’s post-practice report. “So, I still have quite a bit to come, together with my driving because I was not driving very well today. If I am able to improve my driving and get myself a bit more comfortable, I should be alright.”

“Today was a good day. Initially we were getting used to the track with the new tarmac, it was ramping up a lot throughout the day. It’s still quite slippery off line but on the driving line it’s okay,” noted Verstappen. “Most importantly today we had good balance in the car so I feel happy. There are still a few things we want to look at overnight, ideally we want to be faster on every corner, which isn’t always possible. We’ll have to see what the weather will do tomorrow, but overall it’s been a positive day.”

Drivers and teams will pour over today’s data well into the hours tonight, before returning to the track for Saturday’s third and final practice session, and then qualifying for the 2023 Miami Grand Prix.