Gabriel Bortoleto had a discreet performance in the only free practice of the Miami GP of Formula 1. On this Friday (1), the Brazilian did not face any problems but finished in 14th place on the timing sheet at the United States street circuit.
Read more F1: Check the full result of the only TL of the 2026 Miami GP
Clock started and drivers finally released for the first free practice in over a month. Remember that in this single Miami session, competitors will have 90 minutes to run and adapt to the regulation changes.
Obviously, not taking long, Bortoleto soon went to the track still in the first minutes of the countdown. The Brazilian was using the hardest tire of the weekend, the C3.
At the beginning of the session, the sun was shining brightly in the Hard Rock Stadium area with the thermometer reaching 30ºC and the asphalt already hitting 52.2ºC.
After completing his first fast lap, the Audi driver was in eighth place, 1.9 seconds behind Lando Norris, who was in first position. Nico Hülkenberg was sixth at this first moment.
After so many laps completed, Gabriel dropped to 19th place. Still on the hard tire, when he tried to improve his time on the board, he ended up sliding but avoided collisions and soon returned to the track.
With almost 30 minutes of practice already completed in Miami, Bortoleto had already done 11 laps, climbed to 17th place and was attempting to improve his time, still wearing the hardest compound. Shortly after, the driver of car #5 went to the pits.
Breaking the 30-minute extra barrier and now with 1 hour left on the clock, Bortoleto recorded 1min32s868, 2.789 seconds behind Kimi Antonelli, who was the leader at the moment of the only TL of the Miami GP of Formula 1.
Read more F1: Alonso sets deadline to decide on retirement
The competitor’s hard tire already had 12 laps – he had not changed yet – and Gabriel was one position behind teammate Hülkenberg, 0.155 seconds slower than the German.
Bortoleto had not yet left the pits, being one of the few stopped for a long time. The Audi driver remained in 17th place.
Finally, with 27 minutes to the checkered flag, Bortoleto was back on the track still wearing the hard tire. When trying to improve his time, Bortoleto once again had a scare by sliding on lap 1. The driver spun and went to the escape area but soon managed to return to the track.
Right after on the radio, the Brazilian said, “I think the tires are done now.” And the competitor had already said this the first time he overheated the tires earlier in the session.
Finally, in the final stretch of the session, Gabriel managed to climb further up the board. The driver recorded 1min31s622, jumped to 13th and closed in on Hülkenberg – on the lap, the first sector was terrible and the second was much better, indicating battery strategy. Shortly after, he lowered it to 1min31s111.
Checkered flag and Gabriel Bortoleto finished the only free practice of the Miami GP of Formula 1 in 14th. The Brazilian returns to the track at 5:30 PM Brasília time for the Sprint qualifying.
Read more F1: Leclerc leads the only practice in Miami; Mercedes out of the top 3
