Mercedes has brought some new parts for the W13 to the inaugural Miami Grand Prix, and has started the weekend strong on Friday. While George Russell set the fastest time in the second practice session (1:29.938), Lewis Hamilton finished the first day on the Hard Rock Stadium track in fourth position (1:30.179)
Red Bull boss Christian Horner isn’t surprised by the step forward that the Silver Arrows seem to have taken in Miami: “I’ve been anticipating since pre-season that it would be a matter of time for them to get things right. And that’s what we’re doing.” seeing now”.
“I think the characteristics of the track also work in their favour, but you can also see that they are starting to get the problems under control. They look competitive here,” he told Sky Sports microphones.
Max Verstappen, meanwhile, only lapped the track once in the second practice session. “He had a horrible day,” Horner said of the Dutchman’s Friday. “There was a problem in the morning, we replaced his gearbox and one of the coolers. He came out of the pits and had a hydraulic problem, which caused damage to the rear brakes.
However, in the moments when Verstappen was on track, “yes he was very fast”.
“I think he only did a handful of timed laps, but they were all competitive. And luckily he didn’t lose too much compared to the others because of the red flags. But it’s still frustrating that we lost track time.”
As a consequence of the disappointing number of laps on Friday, the third practice session on Saturday will be a little more eventful. “Maybe in the third practice session I’ll do a little more laps than usual to get a good rhythm,” shares Horner.
“Because on a street circuit it’s important to get into a good rhythm, but we know that Max [Verstappen] always adapts well to new circuits, so I’m confident he can make up for lost time.”
His teammate, Sergio Pérez, managed to complete 19 laps during the second free practice session, setting the third fastest time.
“Checo had a good second practice session,” said Horner, whose reading is slightly different from the Mexican himself.
“He did a short stint and a long stint. We have a lot of information from his car, so we’ll be leaning a lot on that when determining the direction we’re going to take with the set-up of the car, which Max Verstappen will also be driving on Saturday. It went well on that side of the garage.”
