Miami Grand Prix – Free Practice 3: Are the Alpines in good shape?

Are the Alpines in shape?

Esteban Ocon was the first driver to hit the track in this final practice session. Followed shortly after by his garage neighbor, the two Alpine drivers were showing a promising pace at the start of the session. Fleetingly quicker than the Ferraris after the initial attempts from both teams, Alpine achieved this feat on medium tires while the Italians were using the red-banded ones. With 20 minutes remaining in the session, Pierre Gasly finally put on the soft tires to go for the 4th best time.

The Alpines finally finished this session in 5th and 6th positions. This collective performance bodes well for Laurent Rossi’s team. The objective for the French team is now to solidify their status as the best among the others in qualifying. With cars that appear to be more difficult to overtake than last year, it is particularly crucial to extract the maximum performance from their car in qualifying in order to avoid being stuck in traffic.

After just 30 minutes of the session, Max Verstappen set a time of 1’27’669, thus establishing the new circuit record. As a reminder, the lap that put Charles Leclerc in pole position in 2022 was a 1’28’796. This demonstrates how much these new generation cars have improved in just one year.

The UFO Bottas

If for now the Finnish driver has mainly caught attention in the paddock for his new hairstyle and the sporting of a unique fashion style, the performances of the Alfa Romeo driver have been far from dazzling since the beginning of the season. Having failed to finish in the points in the last 3 races, Valtteri Bottas seems to have shifted his focus back to driving in Florida. Indeed, the former Mercedes driver ended up in 7th position at the end of this third free practice session.

Many disappointed in Miami

While Mercedes had started the weekend with a bang by occupying the top two positions in Free Practice 1, their performance severely declined from the second session. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell only held the 7th and 15th positions respectively. There was still no sign of the Silver Arrows in the top 5, with Russell being the fastest Mercedes in 10th place.

If the performance of his McLaren was not going to make Lando Norris’s heart flutter, it is highly likely that his behavior would. After 40 minutes of driving in the session, the British driver lost all grip in the fourth turn. The Bristol native miraculously managed to recover his car before it crashed into the barriers. Despite a Grand Prix in Azerbaijan that brought McLaren back to life, the Florida sun does no good for the papaya-colored cars. Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris finished these FP3 sessions in the 18th and 19th positions, respectively.

Even discussions about Franz Tost’s departure from AlphaTauri do not divert attention from the poor performance of the white and navy blue cars in Miami. Since the beginning of the weekend, Yuki Tsunoda and Nyck de Vries seem to be drowning at the back of the pack. This was not lacking in irritating the Japanese driver, who vehemently complained about the understeer of his car over the radio.

Verstappen and Red Bull remain the favorites

By relegating Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari to 4 tenths of his time, Max Verstappen shows the competition that he is still the man to beat and the favorite at the beginning of this season.