Night moves, U.S. future, Mercedes moving on: a Miami Grand Prix notebook
Not only will the Miami Grand Prix not be going anywhere as far as existence, it's not going anywhere geographically, either. And, it will remain a daytime race (for now).
Yes, the people behind the Miami Grand Prix know about the traffic.
That's some of what Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix managing partner Tom Garfinkel said Sunday, hours before lights out on the race's fourth edition.
Garfinkel, also the Miami Dolphins' CEO, should be feeling pretty ebullient these days. This year's total attendance bumped back up after last year's small decrease, which he said might be partially blamed on world champion Max Verstappen's run of dominance in 2023 and 2024 that ended with the 2024 Miami Grand Prix. Formula 1 slapped another 10 years onto its existing deal with South Florida Motorsports, keeping the Miami Grand Prix on the calendar until 2041.
It will stay in Miami Gardens, too.
'Moving downtown will not happen,' Garfinkel said. 'We're here to stay. There's a lot of reasons why downtown didn't make sense when we first got into this, and those reasons still exist. We've obviously made a big investment in this campus.'
The Miami International Autodrome layout includes a number of temporary buildings, some of which might become permanent, Garfinkel said, if that creates a parking problem for Dolphins games and other events.
With the length of the deal with F1, if Dolphins owner Stephen Ross' South Florida Motorsports wanted to install lights, they would shell out the $15 million to $20 million to buy them.
Garfinkel called night race talks, 'very preliminary' and, 'there's no plans to do that right now' because of television time zone effects — a 7 p.m. start would be midnight in London, 1 a.m. in Berlin — and the surrounding Miami Gardens community.
While neighborhood concerns about the event's noise quieted quickly, street congestion, especially on Northwest 27th Avenue after Friday, Saturday and Sunday events remains an issue. The drivers themselves mentioned traffic around Miami in general as a problem.
Garfinkel said that's the one negative thing the 10 Formula 1 team principals mentioned this year in his discussions with them.
'This year, the traffic was an issue because there's construction on the turnpike,' he said. 'We can't control construction on the turnpike. But, we do spend countless hours working on egress and ingress, figure out how to get people in and out of here.'
Garfinkel also said that's the reason organizers really aren't interested in bringing in too many more fans than the 275,000 they have drawn over the Friday-Saturday-Sunday race weekend.
FIA president on Cadillac and U.S. karting
Next year's Miami Grand Prix will be the first race in the United States for the Formula 1's second U.S.-based team, Cadillac, which revealed its logo but no liveries or hints at drivers at a South Beach launch party Saturday night.
FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem described the effort to get Cadillac in as F1's 11th team as 'to hell and back,' but believes the addition of a team carrying an iconic red, white and blue name helps Formula 1 unlock the vault of U.S. motorsports fandom money.
'The American needs to see his brand also,' said Ben Sulayem from an office overlooking the Miami International Autodrome front straightaway. 'This is why I believe we haven't scratched the surface here.'
F1's popularity in the United States surges despite the lack of a driver with U.S. roots. It has been so long since a U.S. driver won a grand prix — 1978, Mario Andretti, Dutch Grand Prix — even Fernando Alonso wasn't born yet. No U.S. driver has taken the green since current IndyCar driver Alexander Rossi started seven races for backmarker Marussia in 2014 and 2015.
The reasons are many. Gen Z and Gen Alpha might be the first generation to grow up with a broad affinity for and watching Formula 1 as opposed to IndyCar (Greatest Generation, pre-Boomers, Boomers, Gen X) and NASCAR (Gen X, Millennials).
Also, F1's feeder systems truly begin with European go-karting and it takes money to advance even in karting not to mention upwards through other developmental stages.
'You have such an amazing culture for karting, but it's disorganized,' Ben Sulayem said. 'And, we need to have our federation here to embrace them, talk to them. We can elevate motorsport beyond what we have. If we harmonize the regulations between the United States and the rest of the world of FIA championships, we can really make our business more sustainable. There's so much here.'
Mercedes and Hamilton still friends after divorce
The marriage between Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes might be the most successful in Formula 1 history. In 12 seasons at Mercedes after leaving McLaren, Hamilton racked up 84 of his record 105 Grand Prix wins and six of his record-tying seven world titles.
Though Hamilton left Mercedes for Ferrari, Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff wanted to make very clear he and his team aren't bitter ex-spouses.
'We're still great friends with Lewis,' Wolff said. 'I spent a lot of time with him, traveling, and I'm still seeing him. It came to a point last year where, you know, it's like spending 12 years in a row on holiday with your best friend. At a certain stage you say, well, maybe do something else this time around.
'And for Lewis, he needed a refresher, a reinvention. Ferrari is iconic, no doubt about that. Certainly he also got terms that were interesting for him.'
Wolff's description of what's changed inside Mercedes partially echoes what Hamilton said about adjusting to Ferrari life.
'Lewis was part of the family. As a racing driver, he knew exactly what he wanted and the engineers and mechanics knew him. He knew them. We got along,' Wolff said. 'You have good days, bad days, strengths and weaknesses. But when you know someone that well, it's easy to manage that. Now the dynamic is different. George (Russell) has massively stepped up as a senior driver in the team. '
Bloodlines and Max as father
Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner expects star driver Max Verstappen to be a 'very present father' doing his share of the babycare duties with wife Kelly Piquet and 'life will be very different for him now, in many respects, as a parent.'
In addition to a four-time world F1 champion father, Verstappen's newborn daughter, Lily, has a three-time world champion maternal grandfather (Nelson Piquet) and a longtime F1 driver as a paternal grandfather (Jos Verstappen).
'I'm just thinking... the genes of that child are quite incredible. When you think of Verstappen and Piquet.. if a racehorse had those genes, it'd be worth a fortune!'
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