Latest news with #Garfinkel
Miami Herald
05-05-2025
- Automotive
- Miami Herald
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!'
Forbes
02-05-2025
- Automotive
- Forbes
Tom Garfinkel On Managing The Miami Grand Prix, Dolphins, World Cup And More
Lando Norris pilots his McLaren around the Miami Grand Prix circuit. (Photo by Rudy ...) With a new 10-year extension announced for the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix, events hosted in and around Hard Rock Stadium are nearly non-stop. Managing it all is a testament to the Miami Dolphins organization. Formula 1 and South Florida Motorsports, a subsidiary of the Miami Dolphins, announced the extension of the Miami Grand Prix that will see the race on the calendar until at least 2041. It's a significant achievement and speaks to how well the event has been hosted. Last year South Florida Motorsports was named 2024 Formula 1 Promoter of the Year. The Miami Grand Prix is just one of many events hosted at Hard Rock Stadium. But the level of detail put into the F1 race and others speaks to a high level of coordination. Tom Garfinkel, who is Managing Partner of the Miami Grand Prix, as well as Vice Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Miami Dolphins and Hard Rock Stadium, has had a full plate, not only with the F1 event, but also with other aspects of the Miami Dolphins and events at the Hard Rock Stadium. The Miami Grand Prix is still very young, so the event's progression each year has been significant. The Miami race was added to the F1 calendar starting in 2022. 'In year one, we were just trying to pull it off in 11 months in a post-pandemic world to get it launched,' said Garfinkel in an exclusive interview for Forbes. 'Year two was really focused on improvements, with the new Paddock Club building, putting the team hospitality paddock on the field, repaving the racetrack, investing in wider pedestrian bridges, etc. Year three was what I call refinement. And I would say now, in year four, we continue to not redefine, but refine how we do things. We're very customer-centric, and try to listen to the customers, adjust, and try to get better every year.' The Miami Grand Prix F1 circuit runs around Hard Rock Stadium, which gets heavily utilized for the event. The facility hosts the NFL Miami Dolphins, as well as the NCAA's Miami Hurricanes regularly, and as Forbes profiled in 2024, the Orange Bowl was Jan. 9, one of the College Football Playoff's semifinals, the 265-acre site will transform as the regular home to one of the largest tennis tournaments on the sport's calendar, hosting the Miami Open each spring since 2019. To add, the World Cup arrives in 2026. Garfinkel said doing it all is a 'big lift' with a sizable staff. We just had the college football semi. We have our Miami Open Tennis. Then we transition into this year's F1 Miami Grand Prix,' Garfinkel said. 'We've got eight or nine concerts this summer. We've got the Club World Cup. We then go back into Miami Hurricanes football and Dolphins football. Then we have the national championship game, tennis, the Formula One race, and the FIFA World Cup next summer. So, a lot is happening here, and many transitions are happening. It takes a lot of people and a lot of planning.' With the F1 Miami Grand Prix extension now announced, how the event continues to evolve will be what Garfinkel and the team that supports Hard Rock Stadium will add to their list. 'We take our responsibility to help Formula One grow the sport in the United States seriously,' Garfinkel said. 'I think having the extension secures that this event can be part of that for a long time, and it enables us to continue to invest in the event in ways that hopefully are innovative and additive to the fan experience and to the sport itself. We have kind of an ethos here to try to do things a little differently, to try to innovate, to try to create. Hopefully, we've done that, and now we can invest in trying to continue to do that moving forward.'
USA Today
02-05-2025
- Automotive
- USA Today
Formula One Miami Grand Prix will remain as major pillar for US through 2041
Formula One Miami Grand Prix will remain as major pillar for US through 2041 Show Caption Hide Caption 'F1': See new trailer with Brad Pitt ripping around a racetrack Watch the new trailer for "F1," with Brad Pitt ripping around in a very fast Formula 1 car. MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The Formula One Miami Grand Prix will remain on the F1 calendar through 2041 – a major announcement by the organization ahead of the fourth annual Miami race. It's a 10-year extension, beyond an initial 10-year deal, for the race held at the Miami International Autodrome uniquely surrounding the Miami Dolphins' Hard Rock Stadium. Dolphins owner Stephen Ross and CEO Tom Garfinkel have been instrumental in adding auto racing to their NFL business, while contributing to F1's footprint in the United States along with Austin, Texas, and Las Vegas since its inception in 2021. F1 president and CEO Stefano Domenicali said Miami is 'the best partner we have' during a press conference to announce the race extension on May 2. 'Miami will be part of our biggest strategy in the United States of America. It's been incredibly successful and will be one of the pillars for our growth in this country,' Domenicali said. Added Garfinkel: "First of all, without Steve Ross's private investment commitment trust in all of us to do this, it's not possible. There's a significant private investment that goes into doing something like this at this scale and it's not possible without Stefano and Formula One and everybody who's been so helpful in this process. So, what this enables us to do now is continue to invest more into this event, continue to try to make it even better than we have — which is a goal that we have every year.' Since its inception in 2022, the Miami Grand Prix has generated $1 billion in economic impact through the first three years of the race, according to F1. 'When we did the comparison what we were bringing to the economical impact of the community when we have the race, I don't want to say they were better than NFL because (Commissioner) Roger Goodell would not be very happy with me, but I would say we're very competitive,' Domenicali said. 'That means we made the right decision, and that's why we want to think longer as we [announced] today.' The extension announcement comes nearly three months after Miami won F1 promoter of the year for 'the best all-round event in 2024' that 'embodied the F1 mission statement to deliver the world's greatest sports and entertainment spectacle. Garfinkel said the first race in 2022 was about trying to pull off the race in the post-pandemic world with just 11 months to build it. The second race in 2023 saw the permanent paddock structure built alongside Hard Rock Stadium, an investment in wider pedestrian point of sale systems, bathrooms and other improvements. The finetuning continued for last year's race. 'We got feedback and tried to tweak on and make it even better. And that's what we're still doing now,' Garfinkel said of the race. 'We are a creative, innovative group, and I think you might see some new things hopefully moving forward. We're talking through what that could be.' Red Bull's Max Verstappen won the 2022 and 2023 Miami races, while McLaren's Lando Norris won his first career F1 race at Miami last year. The race had weekend attendances of 242,955 in 2022, 270,000 in 2023, and 275,000 in 2024.
RNZ News
27-04-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
Sarah Garfinkel: Interoception - your untapped sixth sense
The ability to count your own heartbeat could be the answer to lowering anxiety and managing other conditions like PTSD, psychosis and even some aspects of autism. This skill is called interoception, and it's what British Neuroscientist Sarah Garfinkel has dedicated her life to researching. Professor Garfinkel hopes that the future of addressing mental health conditions will be body and peripheral physiology-based interventions – that is, we start listening to our hearts. Photo: PEAKSTOCK / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRAR
