The Miami GP - History, Track & Future
Formula One took big steps to take advantage of the US market growing when they decided to introduce the F1 Miami Grand Prix 2022 to the calendar.
History
From 2017 onwards, Formula One was looking for a way to expand further into the US market. In 2018, a proposal was put together for a Formula One race to be held in Miami and this was submitted to the city. The initial proposal was for the race to be held around PortMiami.
Issues began to come up with the building of PortMiami and so a new proposal was submitted to the city, this time for the race to be held around the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. This was mainly down to Stephen Ross who owns the stadium. Ross had been trying to get a Formula One race in Miami for years and was finally successful.
In 2021 it was announced that the following season would feature the very first Miami Grand Prix. Part of this announcement was a ten-year deal that would see the track host an F1 race until at least 2023. 2022 was the first Miami Grand Prix and it was held at the Miami International Automdrome which is a temporary track based around the Hard Rock Stadium.
2022 was the first time that we saw Formula One cars racing around the track and it was an exciting race. Ferrari had a brilliant qualifying, locking out the front row with Charles Leclerc taking pole position. The Monegasque looked to extend his championship lead and had a great chance to do so from pole position.
However, it was clear that the Ferrari’s did not have the same pace in the race. Max Verstappen was able to overtake Carlos Sainz at the first corner and he quickly closed in on Leclerc. By lap nine he was able to overtake the Ferrari who was struggling on the medium tyres.
Verstappen was in comfortable control of the lead of the race until there was a safety car on lap 41 due to Lando Norris having a puncture. Leclerc was able to put Verstappen under pressure from the restart, but the Dutchman held him off and was able to pull a gap from Charles in the last five laps.
There were some incredibly good performances further down the order, with Esteban Ocon being able to go from 20th on the grid to eighth. Alex Albon also had a very good result as he went from 18th to 9th. Both were aided by Fernando Alonso receiving two five-second time penalties.
The inaugural race was a success and fans noted that the fanfare around the race made it unique on the F1 calendar.
Track
Many people often ask if the F1 track in Miami will be permanent. Well, the Miami International Autodrome is the temporary circuit that hosts the Miami Grand Prix and will do so for the next decade. This circuit itself uses a mix of new and existing roads that usually make up the Hard Rock Stadium car park.
The track is 5.412km long and contains 19 corners. It is an incredibly fast track as a lot of the corners are designed to be fast. The first sector contains “S” curves that take inspiration from the ones at Silverstone and Suzuka that are some of the best corners in Formula One history.
After the curves there is an incredible long flat out section with a couple of slight corners heading down into turn 11. The tight turns from 11 to 16 lead onto the very long back straight that is perfect for overtaking. The final sector contains just three corners and turns 18 and 19 are fast corners back into the start/finish line.
