The 2022 Formula 1 season will feature the championship’s first ever race in Miami Gardens, the series has announced, as part of a new 10-year deal.
The Miami Grand Prix will be held on the car parks and roads surrounding the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. The 5.41 kilometre circuit will have 19 corners, up to three DRS zones and will see top speed of around 320kph, F1 announced.A second American round of the world championship, to be held in the country’s seventh-largest city, has been a top target of F1 owners Liberty Media since they took control of the sport in 2017. But plans for a race in Miami have faced significant local opposition.
F1 cleared the final obstacle to the race’s approval earlier this week when the city council passed the resolution which determined under a ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ of what F1 will do in order for the event to go ahead.
Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali said he was “thrilled” to finally confirm the race. “The US is a key growth market for us, and we are greatly encouraged by our growing reach in the US which will be further supported by this exciting second race,” he said.
F1 has raced at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas since 2012, although the race wasn’t held last year due to the pandemic.
“We will be working closely with the team from Hard Rock Stadium and the FIA to ensure the circuit delivers sensational racing but also leaves a positive and lasting contribution for the people in the local community,” Domenicali added.
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“We are grateful to our fans, the Miami Gardens elected officials and the local tourism industry for their patience and support throughout this process. We are looking forward to bringing the greatest racing spectacle on the planet to Miami for the first time in our sport’s history.”
No date has been announced for the race, however for logistical reasons it is likely to take a slot alongside other North American rounds. This could be the existing US race late in the season, or the Canadian Grand Prix, which is usually held in June. A previous plan to hold the race this year, one of many failed bids to get the event off the ground, targeted a May date.
While this will be F1’s first visit to Miami, the city has a history of holding races for single-seaters and top-level prototype sportscars. Sam Hornish Jnr won the race twice when it featured on the IndyCar calendar. Geoff Brabham, son of F1 world champion Jack Brabham, won the equivalent sportscar race on four occasions.
During the proposals for the F1 race, which first began in 2018, initial circuits designs incorporated parts of the former GP of Miami venues as well as the track used for Formula E’s 2015 Miami EPrix. The city council blocked those early plans, however, leading the event to be relocated to the Hard Rock Stadium.
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StephenH
18th April 2021, 11:06
Looks like a cross between Interlagos and Long Beach.
BasCB (@bascb)
18th April 2021, 12:15
Well, apart from the fact that both of those tracks have a nice and very defining substantial amount of undulation. This is a car park, it is flat.
mfreire
19th April 2021, 2:57
Long Beach used to have elevation change, up until 1982. After that they nixed the climb up to Ocean Blvd.
HUHHII (@huhhii)
18th April 2021, 11:06
Every day we stray further from god’s light
Klon (@)
18th April 2021, 11:10
And into the trash it goes.
F1 frog (@f1frog)
18th April 2021, 11:15
It’s difficult to say how good it will be having not actually seen the circuit let alone seen a race on it, but from the track map, my first impressions are that it looks excellent.
Kribana (@krichelle)
18th April 2021, 11:16
Whoah 10 years… but that means that we will have 24 races next year…? If it is then, this is a lot of load for the teams…
Jan (@netm)
18th April 2021, 11:19
I don’t like street tracks (seems most new races are street tracks or hybrids), but from the map alone this doesn’t look too horrible? Of course I’d prefer a proper race track like Mugello, and not yet another street track in a place which couldn’t care less about F1,but looking at the map I’m not totally pessimistic either.
Daniel Sussex
18th April 2021, 11:28
Thought they were getting rid of DRS as part of the new rules.
falken (@falken)
18th April 2021, 11:57
It’s being retained just in case. They can always set the number of zones to zero, War Games style
Martyn (@martyn)
20th April 2021, 15:46
Indeed they can, professor!
Felix (@felixflx)
18th April 2021, 11:32
Is there a list how long the current venues have contact? Don’t want to see 24 races.
Track looks actually not bad. T7 / T8 you can take different lines to attack for sure
Jonathan Parkin
18th April 2021, 11:39
Will it include the painted lines though. I always think street tracks should keep all of their painted lines and not burn them off like Monaco/Singapore do
Napier Railton (@napierrailton)
18th April 2021, 11:51
Sweet, a new track and a new race!
It took a long time to get this one confirmed, but we’ve finally got a second round in the USA
Krommenaas (@krommenaas)
18th April 2021, 11:59
It’s only the USA’s 42nd city, according to Wikipedia, not the 7th. I wonder why F1 was so keen to race there. Except for the TV series Miami Vice, it’s a completely unknown place. I don’t know a single building or landmark there, and I doubt many other people do. Track map looks good though, you’d never guess it’s a street circuit.
macaque (@macaque)
18th April 2021, 12:37
Miami is quite known around the world. Not as well known as NYC or LA, but probably on par with San Francisco, Dallas, Chicago (other cities that serve or served as locations for TV series).
There’s a big latin american community there, it’s know for its art deco and modern architecture, and it hosts a big tennis tournament (also at Hard Rock stadium).
Jan (@netm)
18th April 2021, 13:45
lol, are you for real? Miami totally unknown place, yeah, that’s why it has (or had before covid) direct flights to London, Paris, Amsterdam,Madrid, Rome, Warsaw, Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, Lisbon, Istanbul, Helsinki, Barcelona, Moscow, Doha, Brussels, Tel Aviv.. that’s a lot of demand to a totally unknown place. There aren’t many cities in North America who have this much direct European (and middle east) service.
mfreire
19th April 2021, 4:45
The only other ones that have that kind of demand are New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, and ones that get close are San Francisco, Washington D.C., Boston, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and maybe Seattle and Orlando. There’s also an Emirates flight between Fort Lauderdale Airport and Dubai, because of Emirates’s codeshare agreements with JetBlue, which has a hub at FLL.
DaveW (@dmw)
18th April 2021, 13:53
Florida is a major tourist destination for the US and Europe already. It has the famous night life, beaches, waterfront. I think it could be a party vibe just like Montreal and carve out an identity as an event. It’s going to be really hot and humid in the mid late summer though. I might check it out. As long as it’s not during spring break because I’m too old for that scene, like, older than 22.
Robort
18th April 2021, 17:45
The US has very small/precise city definitions and/or inconsistent standards across the country. Miami is the US’s 7th largest metro area, which is a much more reflective measure than the size of Miami proper.
mfreire
19th April 2021, 3:03
The city itself is not that big but the metropolitan area (incl. Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, others) is the 7th largest in the country. Miami is plenty sophisticated enough for European tastes. This will be a great location for an F1 race.
Markp
19th April 2021, 17:28
Miami urban area (continuous buildings/ how big a city area looks from the sky) is nearly double the size of London.
banana88x (@banana88x)
18th April 2021, 12:00
I was there for the Race of Champions 2017 which took place in the Dolphins Stadium.
The setting around the stadium is great, although it is a bit far from the actual city centre.
The first layout proposal was set right in the center near the American Airlines Center.
From the setting it would be much cooler but the layout that they now choose is a much better layout for F1 races.
I´m excited!
BasCB (@bascb)
18th April 2021, 12:17
At least that is some feedback from someone who knows the place @banana88x, thanks! I hope it will be a solid track and fun for fans.
mfreire
19th April 2021, 5:21
I’ve been to Miami several times, and to the Hard Rock Stadium for a few association football games. Miami Gardens is equidistant from Miami and Fort Lauderdale. However Miami Gardens- which is not the same as Miami does have a high crime rate in parts. And this may sound strange to anyone in the UK or any other developed country- there is no public rail transportation directly to the stadium. Although there is the Tri-Rail train system that goes from West Palm Beach, through Fort Lauderdale and its airport all the way down to Miami Airport has a stop at Golden Glades, which is the closest station to the stadium (4 miles away), I imagine they would compensate for this by doing some kind of bus service direct to the stadium, like they do for Austin (and the Goodwood FOS). There is also the Miami MetroRail monorail system that you can access 2 stops down from the Tri-Rail station, which will get you to the center of Miami and to Miami Airport, which in turn will get you to Miami Beach.
mfreire
19th April 2021, 5:22
*direct to the stadium from the Golden Glades station
StefMeister (@stefmeister)
18th April 2021, 12:12
Meh, And as I said not too long ago…… If they want to hold another race in the US fine, But at least come up with a circuit that is at least on-par with COTA in terms of actually been a generally good circuit.
This one just gives me the same vibes as the similar car-park street circuits we already have to suffer with on top reminding me of the mistakes from the 80’s of trying to get F1 over in the US via poor, disliked & quickly forgotten street & car-park circuits. Although at least those old street circuits offered some challenge in terms of been very narrow, Very bumpy with various different types of track surfaces to contend with which helped create a bit of drama.
It’s not just about the racing either. The spectacle of watching the cars drive around many of these style of modern street/car-park circuits is also simply not there which just makes dull races feel even worse.
Yes (@come-on-kubica)
18th April 2021, 12:18
Great another rubbish street circuit. Waste of a space and will probably drop off the calendar after a few years. Valencia 2.0.
Dave
18th April 2021, 12:29
That should happen to Saudi Arabia too!
macaque (@macaque)
18th April 2021, 14:01
But Saudi Arabia planned for that, right? The street race will only last for a few years, as they have a proper circuit under construction or something.
someone or something
18th April 2021, 12:41
Hands up, is anyone excited for this GP?
mfreire
19th April 2021, 5:23
I am! Miami, as crazy and intense as it can be is a GREAT spot for a Formula One Grand Prix.
someone or something
21st April 2021, 2:16
Okay.
GeeMac (@geemac)
18th April 2021, 13:02
Should we be going to the USA twice each year given their well publicised issues with racial discrimination?
https://www.hrw.org/united-states/racial-discrimination
Broccoliface
18th April 2021, 23:28
“latinx”
Hmm, this kind of ‘white person newspeak language on behalf of minorities without asking’ makes me think they might be over-egging the pudding on this one.
wsrgo (@wsrgo)
18th April 2021, 14:17
Anyone else gets S do Senna vibes from the first few corners?
Simon
18th April 2021, 17:59
Might look like that on a track map, will be anything but in real life
MJA
18th April 2021, 19:39
LOL it’s basically Interlagos in reverse.
Matthias[Wlkp] (@matthias-wlkp)
18th April 2021, 20:01
LOL! Upside down stapler!