New car park track proposed for 2021 Miami Grand Prix

2021 F1 season

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Another new route for a potential Formula 1 circuit in Miami has been proposed around the Hard Rock Stadium

However the proposal for a race in America’s seventh-largest city continues to face strong local opposition despite the relocation of the intended site from the Bayside area to the stadium in the north of the city, which is the home of the National Football League team Miami Dolphins.

The latest track design would run through the car parks and roads around the 80,000-capacity stadium. The 18-turn anti-clockwise configuration, illustrated above, would include long flat-out sections on its north and south side. Details published by the Miami Herald indicates the pit and paddock would be situated on the north-east side of the stadium.

The Miami Dolphins team is owned by Stephen Ross, who has been trying for several years to organise a Formula 1 race in Miami. However earlier this year he abandoned efforts to secure a downtown site for the event in a district previously used by Champ Car and Formula E.

Having failed to gain a slot on the 2019 or 2020 F1 calendars, the event organisers are targetting a May 2021 date for Miami’s first Formula 1 race.

The stadium falls within the district of commissioner Barbara Jordan, who has tabled a proposal which would require the race to be approved by the commission, and prevent any roads in residential areas being closed temporarily. Some residents have also raised objections to the potential increase in noise, pollution and traffic due to the event.

The Hard Rock Stadium circuit is the latest in a long line of proposed venues for F1 in Miami. An early concept involved racing through the PortMiami Tunnel. Another route around the AmericanAirlines Arena ran in trouble when promoters were forbidden from using an area of land east of the arena. This led them to consider a new route through Bayfront Park, and later extended the track further into PortMiami, before the downtown plan was scrapped entirely.

F1 previously used a car park-based circuit when it raced in Las Vegas, which held the 1981 and 1982 season finales.

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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 “New car park track proposed for 2021 Miami Grand Prix”

  1. Oh goody! Another flat and featureless circuit in a car park.

    1. @nickwyatt – I hear it was chosen as the perfect spot for the Monza Q3 model of qualifying.

      1. +1… a modern classic

      2. Maybe I’ve been spoiled by video games. But I expect rows of palm trees and beach scenes from a Miami track.

    2. OMG, I am so excited!!!

    3. I love autocross!

    4. @nickwyatt Valencia temporary track equipment is already been shipped there, can’t wait for all those tasty 90° corners!

  2. Car park circuits in America are always epic! Oh, no wait, I may have gotten that one wrong…

  3. At least make it clockwise, so you don’t get pile-ups into the first corner and will promote more ‘do or die’ moments into the last corner.

  4. Just drop it. Forget it and move on

  5. How about a proper race track?

    1. Well, it’s a revolutionary concept. FIA won’t like it.

      1. @david-br, would it not be more accurate to say that Liberty Media would not like it?

        1. @anon, possibly, yes, continuing Ecclestone’s fine tradition.

    2. The closest is Homestead-Miami south of the city, which has a combined oval-road purse layout. Personally I wish they would just use Daytona.

  6. From the series: IT is mandatory to have a new race in the US about to come.

  7. what did Jean Todt say about races needing to be quality?????

  8. This will not go through, because, well, it’s just nonsense. Nevertheless, it is telling that such proposals even make it as far as being public domain. I fear it’s a trend heading toward the worse, one can only hope common sense will prevail for as long as possible

  9. Watkins Glen, Road America, Barber Motorsport Park, Laguna Seca, there are plenty of good road tracks to pick from if they really want another North American race.
    For the amount they’ll spend to put on a Miami race it might be cheaper to bring one of these tracks up to F1 spec.

    1. Agree, and a race at these venus will have greater respect and eagerness amongst fans than one in what might look like a glorified Formula E venue (sorry Hazel!)

    2. Most those circuits are nowhere near ready or able to host F1.

      Road America doesn’t even have a pit/paddock complex for instance & spectator facilities are severely lacking. I also dread to think about what they would do to the place to bring it upto F1 standards.

      Barber wouldn’t be suitable for F1 & for as great a track as Laguna Seca is I don’t think that would be a great venue for F1 either.

      Watkins Glen would probably be the best/most ready of those you suggested but even then I don’t necessarily think it would be the best venue in terms of racing. The Indycar races there aren’t exactly that brilliant & those cars tend to race better than F1.

      Of all the circuits in the US aside from COTA I think the Indy GP circuit is probably the only other venue thats upto F1 standards & ready to host a race.

      1. petebaldwin (@)
        4th October 2019, 19:04

        @roger-ayles – That’d be my worry. They are brilliant tracks but I wouldn’t want them F1-ised.

      2. In their current guises, Barber and Laguna Seca are too short for F1 and would need to be lengthened, much like, say Brands Hatch or Donington Park would need to be. Watkins Glen lacks safety for F1 and the cars’s lap times around there would be absurdly fast- something like 155 or more mph and the lack of runoff at some corners (like the Esses or Turn 6) would need to be rectified immediately. I was at the IndyCar race there in 2017 and I remember watching Sato and Dixon go through the bus stop chicane and Turn 6 in qualifying (Dixon’s pole speed was 147 mph) at insane speeds- I was thinking to myself “if one of these guys crashes they will be in a lot of trouble”. The same goes for Road America but that would have a better chance at its layout not being modified. And all of these circuits have in common- they do not have the proper pit and safety facilities for F1. They are all great circuits, but F1 requirements are strict, and that’s how it goes.

        Which brings me to the only 2 circuits over here that do: COTA and Indianapolis. The Indy GP really wasn’t all that good and they should have used as much of the oval as possible (like they do at Daytona). And we all love COTA, so that obviously should stay.

    3. @Dane You forgot to add Indianapolis.

  10. No thanks, Plenty of great circuits in North America to run a race on. Don’t need this tosh. I’d rather go back to the Indy GP circuit.

    1. Of Course The Designers Think that’s

      good

  11. Seems like they had only one design criteria. Must have three drs zones. Add some sochi between those straights and it is ready.

  12. Please lord not another boring soulless street circuit Where best chance of winning is qualifying pole or hoping for the safety car…

    1. The circuit – indeed, even the race – isn’t important.
      What is important is that Liberty get to control a wealthy city for a weekend.
      Profit.
      Profit.
      Profit.

      1. @nullapax – a red warning light went on atop Carey’s desk: “Dang, they’ve figured out our masterplan… And we didn’t even get Vegas!”

      2. @nullapax +1
        At least they could be honest about it. What’s the point in investing so much time, energy and money in redesigning the cars when no attention is paid to the quality of the venues where they race?

  13. That layout looks terrible.

  14. I know that Liberty are backing up this idea with a race in Miami (or more races in US) but it feels a bit forced or ahead of its time. Because I’m not sure if there is an audience there to support this race and all the hype it seems to surround itself in. There are no US drivers in F1 nor a high-profile team to fight for wins, and if you want to grab the american fans attention with an F1 race, you can only envolve them with supporting the US drivers / teams.

    Maybe for US F1 backers it would be better to get an american driver in F1 first, someone really talented and charismatic, like Alex Rossi or Colton Herta. Also, Carey says they would like an american team that is better funded than Haas, so they can fight dfor wins. That would be great, and only then I’m sure a new race in the States would be a massive hit.

    1. F1 teams are afraid to sign an Indy Car driver and rightly so. since Mario every driver that has come over has sucked or been on a bad team or both. as for racing in Miami forget about it. go to Road Atlanta, Road America, Laguna Seca or Mid Ohio but no damn street circuit.

      1. petebaldwin (@)
        4th October 2019, 19:07

        Just for a moment, imagine Laguna Seca or Road America with all of the grass and gravel removed. They’d probably destroy the corkscrew as well….

        Then a few years later when they realise it didn’t work and move on to a car park somewhere, we’re left with 2 ruined tracks.

      2. There was one guy who signed with a top team and won a WC since Mario.

    2. Miami is not an ameriKKKan city, there are a ton of Brazilians, Venezuelans, People throughout the Caribbean, central “americans”, lots of Europeans, Middle Easterners, etc. None of them care if there is a yankee on the grid.

      @gechichan

  15. Indianopolis was my first F1 race i watched in 2007 when the young rookie really started to crack Fernando Alonso mentally who started weaving down the long straight trying to get Mclaren to switch the drivers, i even read Alonso told Dennis to underfuel Hamilton. What a drive that day from Hamilton so composed with a massive massive straight and Alonso could not get him.

    I have supported Hamilton ever since and been hooked on F1 he made the all nighters staying up for practice in Malaysia and Japan so worth it. Who woulda thought then he is about to be a 6 time WC and the biggest driver to enter F1 in that time frame. Alonso could not even win a title since Hamilton enterd F1 crazy haha.

    1. Bring back the Indy GP

  16. ”Having failed to gain a slot on the 2019 or 2020 F1 calendars, the event organisers are targetting a May 2021 date for Miami’s first Formula 1 race.”
    – And how exactly would they be able to fit in that part of the season if (and that’s a big if) the planned Miami US GP ever were to happen? There’s already Monaco, a venue that has a more or less permanent place in May, as well as, other European circuits, so wouldn’t really fit in there, so why would they target that instead of, for example, October as was the original target for this season already before postponement after another started to take place, or June, in which it could form a double-header with Montreal.

  17. To fit in more races in the calendar without making travel between circuits too hectic for the teams Liberty may well suggest altering the calendar so we get 1 extra month a year. Seems like a good idea on paper let’s make the proposal now. Won’t be the silliest made for sure.

  18. Turning into another Las Vegas. Given the length of time it took for David Beckham’s MLS team to get anywhere near acquiring permission to build a fairly small football stadium in Miami, I’ll pencil this one in for 2038.

  19. We already have a West Coast venue, with F1 history and a captive audience.
    It’s called Long Beach, extend the track and run Indy and F1 over two weekends, no excuses , make it so.

    1. @budchekov, the problem there is that IndyCar are reportedly not keen on allowing Long Beach to sign a deal to hold an F1 race there, because they don’t want to have one of their more high profile races being overshadowed by F1. To that end, there were claims in the past that the contract IndyCar has with Long Beach includes a “do not compete” clause that effectively blocks Long Beach from holding an F1 race.

      1. Well, there’s a bit more to it than that. In 2017, Grand Prix Association of Long Beach under a gentleman called Jim Michaelian, championing Indycar and World Automobile Championship of California representing the original F1 promoters under Chris Pook submitted proposals to the city of Long Beach for staging an open wheel race for the next few years on the shore front. GPALB won under a, ahumm..patriotic… presentation over the “European Show” taking back promotion of the race Pook founded in 1975 and so they have the contract until 2023.
        Toyota decided to withdraw their 44 year sponsorship from the GP, consequently.

  20. This is simply a horrible idea, and I wish them no success in getting it off the ground.

  21. Please god no.

  22. Looks like someone sat on Brand’s Hatch.

    1. @davidjwest: Bratches? Or someone with more Brawn?

  23. If you run it in a car park, where would the people attending park? Is there good mass transit in Miami? I agree with most everyone else. There are other tracks in the U.S. that would be better.

    1. But if they do put one there, they should make the track through the stadium with a 90 degree chichane in the middle. Might as well use the facility. Plus a whole lot of seats you could sell.

  24. Todd (@braketurnaccelerate)
    4th October 2019, 21:46

    As someone who grew up in Miami and is familiar with the area, Hard Rock Stadium is located in Miami Gardens, about a 30 minute drive from Downtown Miami and Miami Beach. There is very little in the surrounding area that would make someone think, “Hey this is Miami, and it’s a great tourist spot!” It’s mostly houses, apartments, chain retail stores and shopping plazas. You can not see beaches, nor can you see Miami’s skyline, not even in the far distance. All you are going to see is houses, Hard Rock Stadium and stores.

    The thing with street circuits like Monaco, Singapore, Long Beach, Azerbaijan, even Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, and Melbourne to certain extents, are that these circuits are located in the heart of the city, and give a proper feel of the local area. Having a street circuit in a part of town 30 minutes away from the actual city center is kind of worthless.

    1. Having a street circuit in a part of town 30 minutes away from the actual city center is kind of worthless.

      It is when it’s done like this. But why don’t we try a suburban road course?

      Every time the London GP idea comes up, and they talk about how central London isn’t feasible, I think about how many great places there are to hold an F1 race which are a just outside the centre. I’ve always liked the idea of a Hampstead GP – a rival to Monaco, but hopefully with passing opportunities :)

    2. In addition to that, Miami Gardens is not exactly the safest part of that area. It will be like a less dangerous version of Interlagos or Mexico City, except the track isn’t as good.

  25. That layout looks decent, it could be worse (Caesar’s), but it could be a lot better. One thing that I hope comes out of this is that this stadium gets enough of the world’s eyes on it so it is picked over Orlando‘s for the 2026 World Cup.

    One issue I have with this location is where this will be. Miami Gardens is a somewhat dangerous suburb 30 or so minutes north of Miami and 20 minutes south of Fort Lauderdale. It is not exactly the most glamourous or exciting part of that area, which by contrast is one of the most exciting and glamourous places in the world. Miami is a seriously fun and cool place to be- it has a seriously different feel to it than any other part of the US.

    One constant comment on here that I’ve noticed is why F1 doesn’t use the smorgasbord of other venues in the US, some of which are truly fabulous circuits. Sebring, for example. That is an amazing place to go to to watch races- I recommend everyone here go there for the WEC and IMSA 12 Hours weekend. But there are some serious downsides to Sebring for those who haven’t been there. It is a backwater dump located about as far away as possible from any major city- 1 1/2 hours from Orlando, Tampa and Fort Myers, and 2 1/2 from Miami/Ft Lauderdale/Palm Beach, there is only one train a day there and the facilities there are almost non existent- hotels are far and few in between and the track would have to be resurfaced completely, taking away most of its character. Daytona on the other hand would be good if pit side garages and modern facilities would be installed there.

    But another track I think gets overlooked is VIRginia International Raceway. Sure, it’s isolated and hotel facilities are somewhat scarce (1 1/2 hours from Raleigh and Richmond and 3 from Charlotte), but no layout changes would have to be made to the Grand West layout (aside from making the track a bit wider in parts)- that is truly a spectacular place to watch racing. The Climbing Esses really is spectacular to watch.

  26. RocketTankski
    5th October 2019, 0:29

    “Robert, we need to conserve the car. Just park it in the first available space.”
    This may be the first track where serving a drive-through comes with a cheeseburger and large fries.

  27. ohh great, new Sochi, cannot wait !

  28. Mark in Florida
    5th October 2019, 21:33

    Don’t worry my Euro friends it will never happen. Miami government is the equivalent of a train wreck. They can hardly organize a city hall picnic. Have no fear of this, Sebring has a better chance.

  29. This will be a Pilot for a new series called F1 Kart.

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