George Russell confirmed Mercedes recovery from their early-season problems when he topped the times in Friday’s second free practice for this weekend’s inaugural Miami Grand Prix.
Making the most of reliability problems for world champion Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team, the 24-year-old Briton clocked a best lap in one minute and 29.938 seconds to outpace championship leader Charles Leclerc of Ferrari by 0.106.
His performance suggested that, following four poor early-season races, the Silver Arrows’ package of aerodynamic upgrades was working.
Sergio Perez of Red Bull was third, a further tenth adrift, narrowly ahead of seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton for Mercedes.