Round 3 of season 12 takes us to Miami. After FP0 this afternoon, all 20 of the regular drivers hit the circuit for the first time in Formula E. With the playing field even among the grid, Free Practice 1 was more important than ever to get used to the circuit layout.
Getting used to the circuit
The drivers spent the first part of the session not only getting heat into their tyres, but also learning about the track. A normally sunny Miami was particularly overcast this session which did not help with temperatures. As the first set of flying laps came in, the Nissan of Oliver Rowland and Cupra Kiro of Pepe Martí were the two drivers at the top.
Martí was able to participate in the rookie free practice earlier so he is a lot more prepared and warmed up than the rest of the grid. The times looked quick as 57 seconds was the immediate target time for many of the drivers. Marti’s teammate Dan Ticktum seemed to warm up to the Miami circuit well.
The Miami circuit is a lot smoother than most others on the FE calendar so in this session, a few drivers were struggling with lock-ups and handling the corners of 6, 7 and 8.
Track limits may become an issue
Oliver Rowland was the first to use a large amount of power for a fast lap. His early result was a time of 55.935 seconds. His lap showed how vital the cornering around this circuit will become in qualifying, particularly around turns 11 and 12, to maximise speed and control on exit.
After his lap, Nico Müller headed off on his push lap, which put him for the time being 2 tenths ahead of Rowland. Some issues occurred with impeding as more of the grid began to run their push laps on a busier circuit. On a clear tracker however, many of the drivers were able to improve their times. Buemi found pace on his second go, shooting him up to P2 for the time being.
Müller sat untouched for a large part of the session. Early push laps from the other 19 drivers left much to be improved and didn’t come particularly close to that early lap time of 55.709 seconds. As the final 10 minutes rolled by, the sun graced the circuit for the final set of push laps in this free practice session.
Drama in the closing stages
Taylor Barnard was first to break that gap to P1. Full power sent him to the front, despite his complaints with visibility due to the sun. He wasn’t the only one, with a large number of the drivers joining him in the pit lane. Nick Cassidy was reported having 5 track limit violations during his session. Turn 13 looked to be the main offender for a number of drivers. It leaves the question as to whether track limits will continue being an issue going into tomorrows sessions.
The final 3 minutes saw the taking screens light up with times from all the drivers. Attack mode made a real difference with the laps but also leading to a small amount of chaos. Felix Da Costa and Nick Cassidy had minor contact coming out of turn 8 with Cassidy on his push lap. Luckily there was no reported damage but neither driver was happy.
FP1 concluded with Dan Ticktum leading the pack by just 0.003 seconds over Barnard. De Vries and Morará found themselves both in the top 10 this session. Pepe Martí sits P9 ahead of Maximilian Günther. Despite it being FP1, some early concerns came with Norman Nato concluding last, Mitch Evans P19 and Pascal Wehrlein in P16.