Marina, Miami International Autodrome, 2022

First pictures from the 2022 Miami Grand Prix weekend

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Pictures from the build-up to the 2022 Miami Grand Prix.

The Miami International Autodrome will hold its first round of the world championship this weekend. The 5.4 kilometre, 19-turn course is laid out on land surrounding the Hard Rock Stadium, home to the Miami Dolphins NFL team.

The track’s layout was created by Apex Circuit Design. Its construction began in April 2021 and the foundations of the pit building were laid the following September. The track’s final layer of asphalt was set in February.

Among the trackside attractions are an artificial Marina featuring several real yachts mounted on a hard surface painted to resemble water, on the inside of turns seven and eight. Later around the lap turns 11, 12 and 13 round an artificial beach.

This is the first of two races which will take place in the USA this year. The second, at Circuit of the Americas, will take place in October. A third American round will be added next year in Las Vegas.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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63 comments on “First pictures from the 2022 Miami Grand Prix weekend”

  1. Miami’s fake marina is a laugh, but ironically a real marina couldn’t save the race at Valencia.

    Hopefully it’s a good race, either way!

    1. I actually don’t mind the fake marina. Its now getting so much publicity that its becoming famous in its own right. I just hope the people who have paid to be there take it in good jest and give us some laughs with it – like laying on lilos / rowing in a dinghy…..

    2. @ozzmosis I couldn’t mind less about the fake Marina as such things are entirely irrelevant to what truly matters, i.e., track action.

    3. Love the overpass. Gives it more the Dallas feel than Caesar’s Palace.

      1. The Singapore race has many overpasses, but because it’s a night race it’s not as obvious.

    4. As long as no-one gets drunk and tries to dive in!!

      Actually, reading the article I thought to myself, that fake marina is a bit crummy isn’t it, but I was a bit surprised to see in the comments that I wasn’t exactly alone in having an opinion about it.

  2. Obviously the “Marina” is getting all the attention but I didn’t realise until the other day that we have overpasses going over the track. Think it looks great and one of my favourite parts of street track races is seeing the people around the track getting on with their daily routines around the circus of F1 (although likely not their favourite part of the weekend lmao).

    I bet they have a few tow trucks on standby already for people that might have strategc breakdowns across the hard shoulder up there hahaha.

    1. I saw all the complaints yesterday about the fake marina (partly prodded by me) and the suggestion that there could’ve been grandstands.
      Maybe they should have erected extra grandstands below the overpass: cheaper seat with free cover.
      birds and stones

    2. I hope they’re not above the DRS zone – it’ll be hard to tell the difference…

      Can we have a marina at Silverstone?

      1. @bullfrog They shouldn’t, as the activation zone on the back straight doesn’t begin until a good few hundred meters after the T16 exit.

      2. @bullfrog Northamptonshire has been calling out for a marina for far too long! I second this wholeheartedly. And make it a nice one, with coral reef and stuff.

        1. @bernasaurus Buckinghamshire will want one too

          1. @bullfrog Bloody hell, Dulux is going to do well out of this.

          2. Well the weather can turn silverstone into a well, whether that is a good thing or not I don’t know.

    3. my favourite parts of street track races is seeing the people around the track getting on with their daily routines

      @aidanedgar You won’t be seeing much of that as they plan to put covers up around the overpass & roads around the place. And most of the roads around the place will also be closed.

      The official reason been as they don’t want to create distractions for those driving past.

      I also gather that the overpass actually breaks FIA regulations on the allowed height of structures crossing over the circuit & that some of the other aspects of things in that section of track skirt the boundaries of what FIA circuit design regulation allows. That seems to be a trend now with some of the recent/upcoming temporary circuits.

      1. @gt-racer it does not sound surprising in light of what we have seen with venues like Jeddah being added to the calendar – there seems to be a slightly worrying attitude that the cars are now safe enough for them to now start ignoring some of the circuit safety regulations, with “spectacle” being given greater importance than it perhaps should be. Is there a sense that is the case amongst some in the paddock?

        1. Your honour,
          Objection, leading the witness!
          ;)

  3. Has it been mentioned, are these structures and paint/vinyls(whatever) coming out for the rest of the year ?
    I suppose they don’t have much of a winter there to erode the racetrack but if its used as a parking lot for essentially the rest of the 330 days, they’ll have to redo – every – year ?

    1. @uneedafinn2win, I suppose.
      Grandstands, TV screens, trackside & overpass ads, everything. Pit building also, like in Monaco.

    2. some racing fan
      5th May 2022, 8:26

      Yeah, that’s the idea.

  4. Yeah, I can’t really see the problem with their marina.
    One of the justifications for Monaco still being on the calendar is the glamour, pizzazz and outrageousness of it – they’ve just copy/pasted the concept here too. And why not, seeing as Miami is generally known for marinas and money, just like Monaco is.

    Difference is that this place seems to have a better circuit where some actual racing might occur.
    I already like it better than Monaco.

    1. The difference is that Monaco is the real deal and this abomination is completely artificial.
      But if that is what you like, be my guest.

      1. I don’t like either – the scenery beside the circuit isn’t what I watch car racing for.
        It makes no difference whether the marina is functional or merely decorative.

        So few have recognised that F1 has increasingly been going to great lengths to “showcase” the places they attend in recent years. Not just the actual physical location of the circuit, but more the surrounding region and what it offers.
        If I think of Miami (not that I ever do) I would picture a marina full of floating rich-boy toys. Perhaps also a balding, middle-aged businessman with some young blonde bimbo in the passenger seat of his Ferrari as they drive along a palm tree lined road next to a pristine white sand beach…

        This is also the image that F1 is giving me now that they are visiting Miami… As such, I see nothing offensive or disappointing about them recreating that image for the cameras. It’s just marketing.

    2. They are planning a fake marina at COTA, on top of turn one with fake waterfalls down to pit lane. God I’m starting to miss Berni.
      At list Monaco has real marinas, real water, and….. the same fake people :)

      1. I’m surprised nobody remembers when the Monaco GP organizers put up a massive barrier with a fake sea painted on it.

        https://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27346

        1. Apparently, painting a billboard that blocks the view of a construction site in the sea is more acceptable than creating a ‘fake’ prop in a carpark.

  5. I’m reserving judgement until I see if it passes the “Kimi Test”

  6. The chicane towards the end of the lap looks a bit clunky, even more so than the Spanish GP one. Also I’m not a fan of the street circuit type look with the close walls. It seems to me that they had enough space to put some turf down and push the walls back a bit to make it feel more like a purpose built track. I think they looked at the most popular tracks and tried to put as many elements in as they could.

  7. I kind of expect a fake Jesus doing a walk on that fake water :)

    1. Call Giovinazzi!

    2. Doesn’t have to be a fake Jesus. There’s a strong cuban/hispanic population in Miami, and Jesus is a common name. :)

      1. Strong is an understatement. I do know one rrezus, we keep busting his chops about turning the Miami River into wine.

  8. You won’t hear much criticism of the venue over the weekend as drivers & media have been told to push a positive impression of the circuit.

    It’s getting rarer & rarer that you actually get to hear the actual options of those around F1 now. Was a big part of what made what drivers did back on the Friday night in Saudi Arabia rather surprising. They actually half made there actual views public although did very quickly get back on script.

    1. I guess they don’t want a repeat of when Mark Webber called Yas Marina a Tesco’s car park.

  9. The fake Marina is hilarious. I think the cable cars are pretty cool though!

  10. Congratulations Liberty Media on the Disneyfication of F1. Pretentious foolishness. It makes me long for Valencia, and that was bad enough. This may make business sense in the short term, but it shows a serous drop in standards.

    1. some racing fan
      5th May 2022, 3:43

      This kind of razzmatazz thing is probably fairly appropriate for the American races but definitely not for the European races. You have to cater to different cultures.

  11. Call it the freeway on ramp Grand Prix.

  12. The fake marina is just ridiculous. The sooner the over-Americanization of F1 ends, the better. For now we have to put up with utterly daft ‘spectacles’ such as this marina in a car park in Miami, one of the absolute worst cities in the world. Even worse than Las Vegas… ah yes, that’s coming up too. Great.

    1. some racing fan
      4th May 2022, 21:00

      Have you even been to Miami?

      1. I’ve been. Personally I don’t think it’s that great, but maybe it’s because I’m a middle aged boring white guy and it’s not my type of scene. But to call it one of the worst cities in the world is ridiculous.

        1. some racing fan
          5th May 2022, 0:17

          To call it one of the worst cities in the world is really ridiculous. It’s not for everyone, but I personally much prefer Miami to Vegas.

        2. @danarcha I’ve been and I hated it. So that’s just my opinion of it… everyone entitled to disagree!

          1. some racing fan
            5th May 2022, 3:39

            OK fine but like one commenter said I could name 1000 places worse than Miami.

          2. Your experience of any place comes more down to your own attitude and expectations, and not the actual place at all, @tflb.

          3. @S that’s the same for pretty much everything though.

          4. Not really, @tflb.
            Judging an entire ‘anything’ on the limited experience of only a small portion of it is something I would hope most of us would have learned not to do.
            Maybe go back and stay in a different hotel, eat at a different restaurant and meet some different people, and your opinion of it may change drastically. Especially if you go with an open mind.

          5. @S what I meant is that everyone is different so experiences things in different ways, has different tastes etc. So there’s no universal ‘this place is great’ or ‘this place is terrible’. My personal experience is that Miami was really bad. I didn’t tag on the end of that ‘and everyone should agree with me’ because I get that many won’t. It’s just a personal opinion!

          6. Fair enough.
            Of course, I’m sure you understand that when you say this:

            Miami, one of the absolute worst cities in the world.

            that your choice of words will naturally be under scrutiny.

      2. some racing fan
        5th May 2022, 3:44

        This kind of razzmatazz thing is probably fairly appropriate for the American races but definitely not for the European races. You have to cater to different cultures.

    2. Miami one of the absolute worst cities in the world? It looks like you haven’t traveled much around the world. I can name you more than 50 thousand cities worst than Miami.

      1. some racing fan
        5th May 2022, 0:19

        Exactly. He clearly hasn’t been to Delhi, Cairo or Lagos, or in the US’s case, Baltimore, Newark, Wilimington, Memphis, Cleveland or El Paso.

      2. @mariano Yes, I have been to Miami, and plenty of other cities in about 40 countries. Miami is one of my least favourite places I’ve ever been.

        1. Being Miami one of your least favorite places doesn’t necessarily make it the “absolute worst city in the world”. In my case I don’t like Rome for several reasons – I had many bad experiences there – but that does not entitle me to say that it’s one of the worst cities of the world. You sound very biased in your opinion without any objective base sustaining your argument.

          1. some racing fan
            5th May 2022, 8:23

            +1

          2. @mariano This isn’t some academic city-ranking site mate, Jesus Christ. The comments are for one’s personal opinions, that’s what they’re for.

            If you’d come on here to say Rome is rubbish then I wouldn’t be taking issue with it, everyone has their places they like or don’t like!

  13. I remember when the buzz and excitement around a new venues was all about the circuit rather than the event and spectacle surrounding it.

    Virtually everything leading upto this Miami GP has been about the show and spectacle surrounding the event rather than focusing on the actual circuit because in reality the circuit itself isn’t especially appealing.

  14. Better a land yacht than no yacht at all… Kimi will be missed.

  15. some racing fan
    5th May 2022, 8:46

    The razzmatazz for this event, plus the pretty good track might be necessary for F1 to really succeed over here. Most die-hard F1 fans would want to have a race at established venues like Sebring or Daytona, instead of an NFL stadium’s car park in Miami. But as good as the track is, Sebring is probably the least appropriate US venue for having an F1 GP at- Sebring is a swampy backwater town that is in the middle of nowhere, and there are barely any hotels out there, and the facilities would need to be improved. But that doesn’t mean its not a great place to watch racing- its one of the best. Daytona could work, because its in a more urban environment and you could actually use those high bankings there, which, unlike the turns at Indianapolis are more like straights than corners. Just look at the 24 Hours race there every year. And also the pit facilities would need to be improved there.

    One thing that bothers me about this upcoming race is the weather. It’s supposed to be 92 degrees F (33 C) at the event throughout the whole weekend- and those temperatures combined with the high humidity in south Florida can be brutal. If they had held this race on 6 March as the first race of the year- maybe they didn’t do that in the event would be a disaster- the weather wouldn’t be as hot. It would be in the 75-80F (24-27C) range, and the chance of rain would have been less. And if they had paired this race with Montreal, then that would have been almost certainly disastrous. I’ve lived in Florida. I know how hot and rainy it gets there in summer. The rain comes down like a deluge, and the heat and humidity is unrelenting. No mild European weather there, let me tell you…

    1. some racing fan
      5th May 2022, 8:48

      *maybe they didn’t do that in the event would be a disaster and that the season wouldn’t have gotten off to a demoralizingly bad start

    2. 33 degrees isn’t particularly hot, even with the humidity.
      F1 is predominantly a summer activity, so such weather is totally within the realm of acceptability.

      All kinds of domestic racing series run in several countries in such conditions (and worse) every year. If F1 is as amazing as people say, they’ll have no trouble adapting to it for a few days.

      And a ‘real’ die-hard F1 fan will look forward to the unique challenge each and every event offers, regardless of where the track is and what type it is.
      I for one am glad that F1 hasn’t looked seriously into going to many of the US’s greatest racing circuits, as they would only be ruined by the change to Grade 1 status. Those places are better without F1.

      1. some racing fan
        5th May 2022, 20:08

        “33 degrees isn’t particularly hot, even with the humidity”
        I’ll bet you’ve never experienced 92 degrees with 75 or 80 percent humidity. It’s pretty punishing. But other than that I agree with everything else you said.

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