Max Verstappen was in a league of his own for Red Bull in final practice at the Miami Grand Prix.
The world champion consistently had a large margin on the rest of the field as tech entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos joined the spectators at Hard Rock Stadium.
Verstappen led Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by 0.406 seconds, with the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez a further 0.109secs adrift.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz completed a conventional-looking top four but behind it the order was jumbled up.
The Spaniard was separated from the next driver from the usual top four teams – George Russell’s Mercedes in 10th place – by five unexpected names.
The Alpines of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly were fifth and sixth fastest, followed by the Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas and Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas and Williams’ Alex Albon.
Fernando Alonso – third in the championship after the first four races – was only 12th in the Aston Martin, and Lewis Hamilton was 13th for Mercedes.
Both Mercedes drivers were complaining about their cars throughout the session.
Russell said he was experiencing “hopping” through Turn Two, but said the “balance was OK, we’re just struggling for pace”. Hamilton said the team were “losing a lot more on the straights”.
McLaren’s Lando Norris had a wild moment through Turn Four in which he narrowly escaped a big accident when he caught the car after a nasty snap and ended up 19th fastest.
The session leaves as lot of uncertainty heading into qualifying at 16:00 local time (21:00 BST), with one exception – Verstappen looks close to unbeatable.
Source – BBC Sport
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