Verstappen’s feat before qualifying at the Miami GP

The Red Bull Racing Dutchman put in a brilliant lap on the soft rubber on the four corners of the Red Bull RB19 in practice 3 of the 5th Formula 1 race of the year in Miami, USA, to set the clocks at 1:27.535 to stop.

The Dutchman’s gap was messy, not only from the two Ferraris but also from his counterpart Sergio Perez, who was half a second away, separating the two Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in the first four times.

The only issue for the champions was the ongoing issue with the binding of the entire Helm-HANS cockpit frame system, which continues to plague the Dutchman. Not to the extent that it threatens its dominance though – which is to be expected at a track whose huge straights suit the RB19 and the virtue of its superior top speed (especially with rear wing DRS engaged) so well.

Alpine put on its most competitive performance yet this year as Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly were quicker than Mercedes and Aston Martin to advance into the top ten. Especially the long straights in Miami let Mercedes and especially Aston Martin fall behind in one lap.

Of course we don’t know the fuel levels nor each team’s testing schedules, so Alpine’s performance – like 7th Valtteri Bottas in Alfa Romeo, 8th Nico Hulkenberg in Haas and 9th Alex Albon in Williams – should be covered some caution.

However, Mercedes also seemed to struggle with the balance of the W14 during the hour-long process, as evidenced by the pit exits of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton on their final fast laps of the soft rubber.

Russell, the faster of the two in 10th, had serious front-end bounce and vibration issues at high speeds – while Hamilton cited the W14’s lack of top speed on the straights. Things went even worse for Aston Martin at its less suitable circuit as Fernando Alonso dropped to 12th place.