First part of free practice
Cloudy. Dry. Air +33С, route +53…47С
The first training session at a new circuit is always interesting, especially since the track around the Hard Rock stadium in Miami resembled the one in Baku – even narrower, with close walls, slippery asphalt – and very hot weather.
In Miami, the surface was prepared to provide good grip, but still the cars slid, especially in the seventh and 17th turns, where fresh asphalt was laid at night.
In the first minutes, Leclerc and Tsunoda turned around, Verstappen touched the barrier without consequences for the car. Alpine staged a dangerous situation in the pit lane, releasing Esteban Okon right in front of Russell’s passing car, but George managed to stop. The stewards will look into this incident later.
Schumacher almost crashed into the car of Riccardo, who suddenly slowed down – the stewards will also take care of this.
Stroll and Vettel received a black-and-white flag warning for crossing the white line while entering the pit lane.
At the 34th minute, the session was stopped by red flags – Valtteri Bottas crashed the car, losing control on the curb in the seventh turn. Nine minutes later, the riders were able to leave once more.
Sainz spun on braking in Turn 4, blocked his tires and returned to the pits with a puncture.
Many worked with prepared novelties, focusing on their program, while the asphalt was gradually covered with a layer of used rubber, and did not leave with a small amount of fuel, which affected the balance of power.
Charles Leclerc took the lead with a lap time of 1:31.098.
Results of the first session
| Pilot | Team | Time | Difference | Circles |
| 1. Sh.Lekler | Ferrari | 1:31.098 | – | 25 |
| 2. D. Russell | Mercedes | 1:31.169 | 0.071 | 22 |
| 3. M. Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:31.277 | 0.179 | 14 |
| 4. C.Perez | Red Bull | 1:31.301 | 0.203 | 21 |
| 5. P.Gasley | AlphaTauri | 1:31.498 | 0.400 | 26 |
| 6. K. Sainz | Ferrari | 1:31.528 | 0.430 | 25 |
| 7. A. Elbon | Williams | 1:31.854 | 0.756 | 20 |
| 8. L. Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:31.956 | 0.858 | 22 |
| 9. K. Magnussen | Haas | 1:32.559 | 1.461 | 20 |
| 10. D. Riccardo | McLaren | 1:32.592 | 1.494 | 21 |
| 11. L. Norris | McLaren | 1:32.615 | 1.517 | 25 |
| 12. F. Alonso | Alpine | 1:32.884 | 1.786 | 30 |
| 13. Mr. Zhou | Alfa Romeo | 1:33.020 | 1.922 | 22 |
| 14. S. Vettel | Aston Martin | 1:33.024 | 1.926 | 23 |
| 15. E. Okon | Alpine | 1:33.417 | 2.319 | 27 |
| 16. L.Stroll | Aston Martin | 1:33.576 | 2.478 | 22 |
| 17. V. Bottas | Alfa Romeo | 1:33.773 | 2.675 | 13 |
| 18. Yu. Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 1:34.043 | 2.945 | 26 |
| 19. M. Schumacher | Haas | 1:34.945 | 3.847 | 20 |
| 20. N. Latifi | Williams | 1:35.637 | 4.539 | 26 |