MIAMI (Reuters) – Red Bull’s Sergio Perez lapped fastest in final practice for the inaugural Miami Formula One Grand Prix on Saturday as Alpine’s Esteban Ocon crashed closely and took a visit to the medical centre.
Perez’s finest lap of 1 minute 30.304 seconds across the Hard Rock Stadium was 0.194 faster than Ferrari’s world championship chief Charles Leclerc.
Red Bull’s world champion Max Verstappen, 27 factors behind Leclerc after 4 races, was third on the timesheets and 0.345 slower.
Alpine’s Fernando Alonso was fourth and Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel fifth.
Verstappen, who did solely 5 flying laps on Friday and missed second practice resulting from an hydraulics concern, was again on the tempo however needed to brake exhausting late in the session to keep away from crashing on the chicane.
The Haas pair of Mick Schumacher and Kevin Magnussen had been sixth and eighth respectively with Alexander Albon ninth for Williams.
Britain’s George Russell, fastest for Mercedes in Friday’s second practice, was solely seventeenth whereas seven-times world champion crew mate Lewis Hamilton was fifteenth as the crew struggled once more with a bouncing automotive.
Ocon gave his mechanics loads of work to do earlier than qualifying after smashing into the wall sideways at flip 14, the identical level the place Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz had crashed on Friday. The incident introduced out the purple flags.
The Frenchman was taken for medical checks because of the excessive G-forces and cleared to proceed. The crew mentioned the complete extent of the injury can be assessed when the automotive was returned to the storage.
(Writing by Alan Baldwin in London, enhancing by Pritha Sarkar)
