Challenging day for George in Miami as he ends qualifying in P12.

In the final practice session of the weekend, George began on the Medium Pirelli tyres to set his benchmark lap time of 1.39.560 early in proceedings.

The Brit quickly improved, delivering a 1.32.335 to move him into P3 before an early red flag due to a crash for Esteban Ocon at Turn 14 after only 15 minutes.

With 33 minutes left on the clock, the green flag waved, and the session resumed.

Switching to the Soft tyres for the final 20 minutes, George continued to familiarise himself with the Miami circuit to put in a 1.31.924, his best lap time of the session and move him into P4.

A flurry of fast laps in the final moments of FP3 pushed George down into P17 where the Brit ended the difference final practice of the weekend as he prepared for the afternoon's qualifying session.

Beginning Q1 on the Soft tyres, George put in a 1.30.807 on his first run to take him into P7.

As the clock ticked down, George improved into P6 briefly before being pushed down into P9 but still firmly into Q2.

George was quick to join the track for Q2 but returned to the pits without setting a time, re-emerging for his first run with nine minutes remaining on the clock.

Struggling to deliver a clean lap, George was unable to put in his first flying lap until the final moments of the session, moving him into P7 but was pushed down into P12 and out of qualifying.

George will line up in P12 for the first Miami Grand Prix.

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George Russell – Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One™ Team Driver

The car was bouncing a lot more today and I just couldn't attack any of the corners as a result. It's a shame because we showed good potential yesterday, but it massively went away from us today. We thought we went pretty conservative with set-up in qualifying to avoid the porpoising we experienced in FP3 but it seemed just as bad. The bouncing was going through all the corners, particularly turns 4 and 5, and you just couldn't attack into the braking zone.
When you get the car in the window, it's fast and yesterday we looked to be fighting for pole but today is our worst qualifying of the year so it's difficult to make sense of.

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The Miami Grand Prix will get underway from 8:30pm BST on Sunday, May 8.

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