Oscar Piastri comfortably led the sole practice session for the Miami Grand Prix after a late red flag for a crash involving Oliver Bearman truncated running.
Bearman’s Haas was already threatening to break from his control through the tight Turn 11 before snapping free completely as he got on the power for the long right-handed Turn 12. The rookie spun backwards and smacked the wall with the right-hand side of his car, bringing an immediate end to his session and triggering a red flag with less than five minutes on the clock, effectively ending practice early.
The timing worked fine for Piastri, who had just completed his sole soft-tire lap to rocket to the top of the order. McLaren’s championship leader logged a best lap of 1m27.128s, putting him 0.356s clear of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc as the second-quickest driver.
Max Verstappen, having arrived late to the weekend after the birth of his first daughter, completed the top three after some mid-session suspension tweaks, the Red Bull Racing driver 0.43s off the pace.
But Bearman’s stoppage was frustrating for Piastri’s teammate, Lando Norris, who was only two-thirds of the way around his lap when the red flags flew.
Norris, winner in Miami for the first time last season, was 0.345s down on Piastri at the end of the first sector, but a purple second sector brought him to within 0.172s when he had to abandon the time, leaving him 12th in the order.
Additionally frustrating for the team is a post-session investigation into releasing Norris with a car in an unsafe condition, having appeared to have left a flashlight in his cockpit at the beginning of the practice hour.
