Sergio Perez, Red Bull, Miami International Autodrome, 2022

Miami keeps ‘B&Q car park’ chicane but track will be resurfaced to improve grip

2023 F1 season

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The Miami Grand Prix organiser will address one of the complaints made by Formula 1 drivers ahead of their return for the second running of the race this year.

But while the low-grip track surface is to be completed replaced, the much-maligned turn 14 and 15 chicane will remain. The resurfacing work is part of an array of upgrades to the Miami International Autodrome which will be made before the 2023 edition of the race.

The event joined the F1 calendar last year on a temporary track using the car park and access roads surrounding the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.

Ahead of the venue’s second-ever race event on 5th-7th May this year, the whole 5.4-kilometre track will be repaved by circuit design firm Tilke with the intention of “improved grip levels” to increase the chance of overtaking. Last year’s race averaged less than one pass per lap.

However there will be no changes to the slow chicane which was widely panned by drivers. Lewis Hamilton said it “reminds me of being in a B&Q car park” during the inaugural event.

F1 teams’ hospitality will be situated within the stadium
Another major infrastructure investment is the creation of a permanent building to host F1’s Paddock Club that will have its own rooftop club. Construction began six months ago and the building will sit above the pit lane and garages on the main straight.

The paddock space for the teams will now be expanded into the stadium, where the hospitality units will be based. Design concept images and quotes from the grand prix’s president Tyler Epp suggest the paddock will be placed on top of the grass football pitch in the stadium. This is likely to be covered using a durable surface or cover to protect the playing surface.

General admission ‘Campus Pass’ ticket holders will be able to access the stadium to view the paddock from above at the top of the stands, and those tickets will be available to buy from 23rd January.

The stadium owners sold more tickets for last year’s grand prix than any event in the venue’s history.

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Author information

Ida Wood
Often found in junior single-seater paddocks around Europe doing journalism and television commentary, or dabbling in teaching photography back in the UK. Currently based...

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27 comments on “Miami keeps ‘B&Q car park’ chicane but track will be resurfaced to improve grip”

  1. They can jazz up the paddock buildings, fan experiences etc as much as they want, but that circuit layout, well, whats the saying about polishing a turd (or dipping it in glitter in this particular case)
    Most will accept that the Monaco race isnt great, but at least its a challenge to the drivers, and has the best part of a century of legacy, but this Miami GP, it almost has NOTHING going for it. I mean if the layout was near the beach or something it would feel like a Miami event, but you dont even get that feel when it comes across on the TV.
    Such a waste of time and money.

    1. Do you not remember the pool and cardboard boating marina? :D

    2. Only the part under the highway is rubbish they could cut the chicane and make the straight a bit shorter and i think you have a great turn (corner) Also the surface isn’t great.
      Monaco has 1 problem it;s straight is too short and it’s chicane should be removed as this cars are way too big to make those turns into overtake moments.

      1. Jonathan Parkin
        19th January 2023, 8:39

        You should watch some YouTube videos of the track without the chicane and see if you change your mind. At the speeds F1 cars travel these days, trust me they do need it

  2. Let’s hope they won’t redo what Turkey did couple years back. To make it even more slippery

  3. The grip didn’t seem a huge issue, so entirely resurfacing after only a single season is weird.
    I also doubt overtaking would improve, but we’ll see.
    Paddock facilities inside a stadium is even weirder & definitely a first.
    Of course, the terribly annoying chicane won’t go away.

    1. @jerejj Indeed! If the track was indeed low-grip, than I think it was a deliberate action. It’s a weird decision to completely replace the track surface after just one race.

    2. @jerejj more pertinently, it seems that the chief complaint by the drivers – which was having an unprotected concrete barrier perpendicular to the track – is not being looked at, despite the safety concerns those drivers raised.

      After all, the designer of the circuit, Clive Bowen, stated that he was prepared to look again at whether the Tecpro barrier should be extended to cover that particular barrier, with the implication that they’d left it unprotected because they’d not accounted for the trajectory that Sainz and Ocon actually hit the barrier at.

      In fact, Clive went as far as saying that he’d even consider redesigning that chicane entirely to see if it could be removed – but, from the information given so far, it sounds like neither option has been considered.

      It’s also notable that the comments about resurfacing the track seem to contradict what Clive Bowen had been saying last year. His defence was that the tarmac used was fine, and that the only issue was that they should have started track cleaning operations earlier – if that was supposed to be the case, why would they need to resurface the track now to improve the grip levels?

  4. some racing fan
    18th January 2023, 17:13

    That’s not going to help. It’s too hot and humid at that time of year to host a race there.

    1. Wrong. Temps in FL stay relatively stable all-year-round & Miami isn’t even the absolute warmest or humidiest month.

    2. March would be much beter so swap this track with Albert park. Last time i was there in begin februari it was freezing (their words) it’s was 2 degree celcius but south of Miami you will pass a tropical border (key west) and that was 27 degree celcius never got a cold that fast when return north again.

  5. Still a horrid circuit that i honestly can’t see sticking around too many more years.

    Will end up on the pile of all the other awful street circuits and car parks that have blighted the US’s F1 circuit history post Watkins Glen.

    And i think the Las Vegas vanity project will go the same way.

    1. Jonathan Parkin
      19th January 2023, 8:45

      It’s also not even IN Las Vegas. It’s actually in Paradise. The Caesar’s Palace race in the eighties was also in Paradise.

  6. petebaldwin (@)
    18th January 2023, 19:26

    It’s unfortunately a really bad track layout. I don’t personally care about all the cheap, tacky American stuff like the fake marina because it’s easy to ignore but the track just sucks.

    1. Exactly!!!! As we all know, American = cheap, tacky.

  7. I find it interesting that tracks like Road America and Laguna Seca can’t receive FIA grade one ratings, but stupid street courses like Miami et. al., with no run offs and unprotected concrete barriers, do.

    1. What is a “B&Q” … car park? Not a Texas “Bar-B-Q”?

      1. B&Q is a British multinational DIY and home improvement retailing company, headquartered in Eastleigh, England.

        1. Lewisham Milton
          19th January 2023, 21:14

          Clearly not as multinational as they think they are… does that mean they’re in Wales as well as England?

      2. @elchinero

        Ever heard of something called Google?

        1. Exactly!!!! You are supposed to be british reading this article, and if you’re not, Google how to be british.

      3. It’s the UK’s equivalent to Home Depot

  8. I think this chicane is the best part of the circuit, I hope they don’t remove it as happened with another very good chicane, the Singapore Sling

    1. Exactly. Take the chicane away and the track loses a unique feature.

      It still impresses me just how boring some ‘fans’ want F1 to be.

    2. Lewisham Milton
      19th January 2023, 21:11

      Very good?
      Chicane?
      Does not compute.

  9. “completed replaced” ?

  10. FIA are happy selling tickets, but the reality is it’s a dire racing spectacle, with little quality or features. The US has some world class circuits like L Seca & COA, but Miami and LV are just McCircuits.

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