The session started with track temperatures nearly hitting 50°C, a point which was reached and surpassed by FP3's halfway point, and Verstappen led the field out of the pits – an atypical run plan for Red Bull in final practice, as the team usually leaves the garage late in FP3 to focus solely on qualifying preparation runs.
But after missing essentially all of FP2 with gearbox and hydraulic problems, Red Bull needed to give its world champion time to get up to speed on the Miami circuit, which meant he headed out as soon the session began to pound around on the medium tyres.
