Miami GP: Oscar Piastri tops sole practice as Oliver Bearman crash creates Sprint Qualifying mystery

Oscar Piastri finished first in the only practice session held at the Miami Grand Prix. The session was significantly affected by a crash involving Oliver Bearman, which prevented many drivers from completing their final preparations for the Sprint Qualifying later on Friday.

Drivers had only 60 minutes to prepare for the entire weekend ahead. Most teams saved their crucial qualifying simulation runs on soft tires for the closing 10 minutes. It was during this critical window that Bearman spun his Haas and hit the wall at Turn 12, triggering a red flag that ended the session prematurely.

Championship leader Piastri was among the few who managed to complete a fast lap. His time put him three-tenths of a second ahead of Ferrari`s Charles Leclerc in second place. Max Verstappen of Red Bull was another tenth back in third.

Lando Norris, Piastri`s McLaren teammate and closest championship rival, ended up only 12th. He was in the final sector of his fastest lap attempt when the red flag was shown.

Norris had been more than three-tenths slower after the first sector but significantly reduced the deficit in the second. This leaves the ultimate potential gap between the two McLaren drivers unknown.

Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) and Alex Albon (Williams) were fourth and fifth respectively, as they were among the first teams to attempt their runs on soft tires.

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton also missed out on setting a representative lap time on soft tires, finishing 13th.

Hamilton`s difficulties from earlier in the season seemed to persist during the medium-tire running, where he was eighth fastest.

George Russell of Mercedes had been fastest on the medium compound earlier in the session and finished seventh overall despite not completing a lap on the softs.

Arriving at the sixth round of the season, Piastri showed good form by topping the practice session.

The Australian had a minor incident, lightly touching the barriers on his worn medium tires, but appeared comfortable when setting his leading lap time.

Norris had a notably difficult session from the start. On his very first lap out, he realized mechanics had left tools in his cockpit, forcing an immediate return to the pits. McLaren was later summoned to the stewards for releasing the car in an `unsafe` condition.

Later, Norris had a big scare when he almost crashed into the back of Esteban Ocon`s Haas, which had slowed down on the racing line on the fast approach to Turn 17. Thankfully, they avoided contact, but Ocon was called to the stewards to explain the situation afterwards.

Reigning world champion Max Verstappen showed no negative effects from his late arrival in Miami, having missed Thursday`s media sessions to be at home for the birth of his first child.

Red Bull is the only top team to bring notable upgrades to Miami, featuring an updated floor. However, the limited practice time made it difficult to fully assess the impact of these changes.