F1 Miami Friday: a turning-point for Merc by Windsor
It's only Friday. It's only free practice...and yet.. the two Mercedes of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton (in that order) were impressively quick in Miami. Maybe its because the 50deg track temps are finally working the Mercedes' Pirellis into a sweet spot; maybe the team have made significant improvements. The Mercs were still porpoising on the long straights - but the oscillations were less dramatic, less damaging. And the top speeds of the Mercs on Miami Friday were not far away from those of the Ferraris.
Having said that, Max Verstappen was always super quick when he was running (which wasn't often: he lost most of the second session with a major steering problem) - as was his Red Bull team-mate, Sergio Perez. Charles Leclerc is also right there for Ferrari, but Carlos Sainz went off twice: Miami is surprisingly bumpy for a new circuit - and the tight chicane is...well...tight. Peter Windsor offers his thoughts on both FP1 and FP2 in this video - and details the top speeds, fuel runs and soft-tyre runs on this brand new circuit.
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