The City of Miami Commission has unanimously approved a resolution to seek a 10-year deal to host an F1 race in the city.
A resolution sponsored by mayor Francis Suarez, commissioner Wifredo Gort, commissioner Frank Carollo and commissioner Manolo Reyes empowers city administrators to begin negotiations.
The resolution “[supports] the efforts to bring the Formula 1 racing circuit to the City of Miami for the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix from 2019 to 2028 and [directs] the city manager to formalise the necessary contractual agreement between the City of Miami and Formula One World Championship Limited,” said the city government in a statement.F1 will hold a fan festival in Miami ahead of this year’s United States Grand Prix, which is held at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. The first race in Miami would take place in October 2019, F1 said in a statement.
“With the unanimous votes at both the City of Miami and Miami-Dade County’s Economic Development and Tourism Committee, we are very pleased to have received preliminary approval towards bringing a Formula 1 Grand Prix to Miami,” said F1’s managing director of commercial operations Sean Bratches.
“We recognise that this is only the start of the process and we will immediately get to work with the various community stakeholders, the City of Miami, the Port of Miami, Bayfront Park Management Trust and others, in order to reach a final agreement.
“Formula 1 in Miami represents a fantastic opportunity to bring the greatest racing spectacle on the planet to one of the world’s most iconic cities, and we are delighted that the journey is underway.”
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ajpennypacker (@ajpennypacker)
10th May 2018, 22:27
I know most of the time these proposals end up going up in smoke… but Miami seems quite serious about this. Provided they produce a layout that makes for proper racing, I think Miami would be an american [or cuban american ;) ] version of Monaco, but with better racing. The glamour, the glitz, the night life, the beach (proper beach mind you). I hope they make it happen.
Forza Maldonado (@forzamaldonado)
10th May 2018, 22:35
Same here. Miami is a wonderful city and as long as they are serious about making a good track and fan experience it could be one of the most popular grands prix on the schedule.
Lancer033 (@lancer033)
11th May 2018, 0:49
My concern is that the track proposal didn’t look that impressive. Hopefully it’s better than i’m thinking. The timeline is also really short, i don’t see how they could be ready in time. I could be wrong, but i wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t end up forking over a lot of money and then slipping it to 2020….2021….2022 until it’s forgotten about like New Jersey.
Benny
10th May 2018, 23:29
Lots of rain – maybe not such a good idea.
Vegas?
Jere (@jerejj)
11th May 2018, 3:15
@Benny I highly doubt it about it primarily due to the number of Casinos there. At least not something that’d include closing the Strip
”Las Vegas won’t join, and if it does it’ll be off the calendar within 3 years. The idea of having a road race on the strip of a few years ago will never work because the casinos won’t let the roads close for an F1 race. Too much casino money at stake and too little interest in F1 in that area to justify it. Las Vegas doesn’t need F1 for a draw and doesn’t want a draw that makes getting to the casino hard. Developers and casinos there are more interested in NFL, NHL, and other sports right now so F1 would have to be completely foreign investment and there’s no return in holding an F1 race any more from just the race tickets. It’d be a money loser so in the end it’ll never come together.”
mfreire
11th May 2018, 3:34
I quite simply cannot think of a less appropriate place for a bunch of classy Europeans to be than Vegas, other than Reno (which is even worse). Maybe LH, Kimi and DR will fit in nicely but no one else will. But F1 needs a West Coast race.
Josh (@canadianjosh)
10th May 2018, 23:44
I totally believe the US needs 2 races because the potential fan base could be a huge add on to the already healthy North American base, but before I criticize Miami, which I already did when I first learned about their “race”, a track layout will need to be seen which if they want a 2019 race, will need to be extremely soon. A 10 year race contract would be a big deal.
mfreire
11th May 2018, 3:21
What? Why October? Why not March as the first race of the year? That’s a better time of year; it isn’t as hot and it isn’t as likely to rain…
Jere (@jerejj)
11th May 2018, 3:23
If the proposed Miami GP were to happen then why in October, and not in June with the Canadian GP instead? In June, the hurricane storm risk is lower than in October, and also the temperatures are more or less the same as they stay relatively stable there all-year round, so, therefore, they wouldn’t be a problem either in contrast to Austin, for example. Furthermore, it’d also avoid the Heat’s games entirely unless they were playing in the NBA-finals while in October it could be more difficult to avoid them as the NBA-regular seasons start that month.
mfreire
11th May 2018, 3:30
June is the wettest month of the year in Miami (it rains on average 25cm in June), the heat and humidity are already very high at that time of year and considering New York is being looked at, a spot for a New York race in June right before the Canadian GP would probably be ideal for Liberty. The NBA season starts in October and the finals are in June- and the Heat have been to the finals a lot over the last 5 years. I’ve lived in Florida and I know what the heat is like in summer- it is nigh-on unbearable.
Jere (@jerejj)
11th May 2018, 14:13
@mfreire TBH, June isn’t really any different (neither worse or better) to October temperature-wise. The historical average high of June in Miami is 30.3 C while October’s equivalent is 28.7 C, so not much of a difference there. Also, the daily mean of June is 27.6 C Vs. October’s equivalent of 26.2. The daytime temperatures there vary in the range of high-20s to low-30s throughout both months, so temperature-wise, a June-slot wouldn’t be a problem for Miami unlike with the current USGP venue, for example.
mfreire
12th May 2018, 5:45
The temperature difference isn’t that great between June and October, yes- but it is more humid in June and again, June is the wettest month of the year in Miami- compare about 10 inches of rain to October’s 5. Summer in Florida absolutely sucks during the day- I don’t know if you’ve been there before but I used to live there and I almost never went outside between June and September during the day. When it rains in Florida, it comes down like absolute hell and in deluges- all at once. Neither June or October are appropriate months to host F1 races in Miami- I hope it is moved to March in 2020 as the first GP of the year (even though the NFL Super Bowl is being held in Feburary of that year there).
Jere (@jerejj)
11th May 2018, 3:29
@mfreire This wasn’t supposed to be a reply to you. Nevertheless, while I’m at it: Yes, March isn’t as hot as October nor does it rain as much then as in October, but it isn’t significantly warmer than October as the historical average high of March is 24.6 degrees Celcius Vs. October’s equivalent of 28.7 C while the daily mean of March is 21.6 C Vs. October’s equivalent of 26.2 C.
mfreire
11th May 2018, 3:33
Considering most of the United States is cold or cool in winter and Miami is warm and hot all year around, March would be a great vacation-type opportunity for a race- it is far away from the NASCAR race at Homestead and won’t hurt the IndyCar St. Pete race.
Jason (@jmwalley)
11th May 2018, 13:56
@mfreire & @jerejj, I think October is being planned because October 2019 is probably the soonest they could get everything together. I agree that an early season calendar slot would make more sense.
After reading Dieter’s interview with Tilke, it seems like 9 months turn-around on preping for a street race is the minimum possible. So, they hold the fan festival in October of 2018, and have a few months to assess interest based on that and make decisions, before they have to start taking action.
If Miami does happen, I wouldn’t be surprised if it moved to April or May after the first year or two.
MG1982 (@mg1982)
11th May 2018, 6:49
Welcome to Miami! Bienvenido a Miami!
Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
11th May 2018, 9:23
Something different. Should be exciting. Great for F1’s profile too which is important currently.
pastaman (@)
11th May 2018, 13:00
Please not another street track, starting to turn into Formula E
Apexor
11th May 2018, 20:21
Night race would be great for Miami. I go visit Fort Lauderdale at winter time for few weeks. I will be much closer to F1 than before and start going in October.
I live in Canada though.
mfreire
12th May 2018, 5:44
The temperature difference isn’t that great between June and October- but it is more humid and again, June is the wettest month of the year in Miami- compare about 10 inches of rain to October’s 5. When it rains in Florida, it comes down like absolute hell and in deluges- all at once. Neither June or October are appropriate months to host F1 races in Miami- I hope it is moved to March in 2020 as the first GP of the year (even though the NFL Super Bowl is being held in Feburary of that year there).