Fast track
Miami wants to host Formula 1 race.
Miami Dolphins owner Steve Ross’ latest effort to bring a world-class sporting event to South Florida could have a Formula One street race in downtown Miami as soon as next year.
The Miami City Commission will discuss a proposed 10-year agreement with the premier international motorsport circuit at its May 10 meeting. If approved, Formula One could stage its first Miami Grand Prix, a three-day event, in October 2019.
“We appreciate the community’s interest in hosting a Formula One race and look forward to working with local officials and stakeholders to bring this vision to life,” Sean Bratches, managing director, commercial operations of Formula One, said in a statement.
“With over half a billion fans worldwide, Formula One is the greatest racing spectacle on the planet, and Miami’s status as one of the world’s most iconic and glamorous cities, combined with its robust tourism infrastructure, makes Miami the perfect destination for Formula One and its fans.”
NASCAR has contested its championship weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway for the past 16 years and will do so again in November.
There is also a history of auto racing downtown with the Miami Grand Prix sports car races during the 1980s running on Biscayne Boulevard and through Bayfront Park, and more recently the Miami ePrix, an electric car race, in 2015.
The Race of Champions, involving top
drivers from various racing circuits, was held on a temporary race track constructed inside Marlins Park in January 2017.
A company headed by Ross is the potential promoter for the staging and support of the F1 event.
“Miami is a first-class global city and Formula One is a first-class global brand,” Ross said in a statement. “In cooperation with the city of Miami and Miami-Dade County, I am confident we can deliver yet another global event that will be a destination for people from around the world and drive economic value to South Florida. From football and soccer to tennis and motorsports, Miami deserves only the best in music, food, art, fashion, and sports and entertainment, and that is exactly what we plan on delivering with a Formula One race.”
Since modernizing and renovating Hard Rock Stadium, Ross has brought numerous major international soccer matches to the stadium and secured the 2020 Super Bowl and 2021 College Football Championship for South Florida. He is developing a worldclass tennis facility at the stadium site for the relocated Miami Open beginning next March.
Miami would be the second Formula One race in the United States, joining the U.S. Grand Prix in Austin, Texas. There are two other North American F1 events, in Canada and Mexico.
The Miami commission will consider authorizing his city manager to negotiate a contract with Formula One. The commission would then have to vote on approval of a deal.
It remains to be seen how the community will react to the proposal. There was some objection from residents to the one-and-done Formula E race, and the electric cars created a whisper compared to the blaring whine F1 will bring to the neighborhood.
But the downtown setting and cosmopolitan feel of Miami appeals to Formula One, particularly the proximity and influence of Latin America, where the circuit enjoys widespread popularity. The proposed race has the backing of Miami mayor Francis Suarez.
The IndyCar Series, the North American equivalent of F1 that uses similar openwheel cars, held races from 1996-2010 at HomesteadMiami Speedway.
It never drew the following that the NASCAR races have gotten there, and IndyCar dropped HomesteadMiami after the 2010 season finale was sparsely attended. Speedway officials didn’t lament losing the race, saying the track would be more profitable without IndyCar.
Around the same time, there was a demand for NASCAR to stop staging its season-culminating races at Homestead-Miami by Bruton Smith, the bombastic billionaire owner of Speedway Motorsports, which owns and manages a number of tracks around the country that stage NASCAR events.
Smith created a stir in 2009 when he took verbal shots at the diverse culture in South Florida, saying, “Why would you have the last race of the year in some Godforsaken area that is north of Cuba?”
Smith’s perspective created controversy but no action. Homestead-Miami has remained a poplar venue for NASCAR’s Championship Weekend. It has continued to sell out for the final race of the premier series at the track which seats about 46,000 during a period of declining attendance at other NASCAR events.
The annual direct and indirect economic impact on Miami-Dade County from the speedway is estimated at $301 million.