F1 Brings in Mammoth $350 Million to Miami With the Help of Booming American Audience

Formula 1 had its first race in the United States this year at the Miami circuit. It was the inaugural F1 race on the streets of the magic city and the numbers point toward the event being a huge success. Remarkably, 23 million Americans tuned in throughout the weekend to get a taste of the racing action.

It was no cakewalk organizing a race classified under the pinnacle of motorsport. The event faced a lawsuit from the Miami locals, way ahead of the race weekend. Despite such obstacles, F1 kept at it and still delivered a banger Grand Prix. As per the reports, it boosted the local economy by $350 million.

Miami means everything was grand, and so was the star power at the track. The paddock witnessed various superstars like Serena and Venus Williams, Michael Jordan, Dwyane Wade, Michelle Obama, David Beckham, DJ Khaled, Patrick Mahomes, LeBron James, Michael Strahan, Shawn Mendes, and many more.

The report released by South Florida Motorsports shows signs of great promise for the track’s future. The Economic Impact report showed that the tourists spent $150 million during the race week. Furthermore, 3,000 local workers paid an excess of $100 million leading up to and during the weekend.

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The CEO of Miami Grand Prix, Richard Cregan commented “Our team worked selflessly to create a campus and experience that was unique to the international culture of Miami, We look forward to growing the event and the positive impact it will continue to make here for years to come.”

F1 Drivers critical of the Miami GP

Formula 1 is a traveling circus that sets up its tents in a new part of the world each weekend. In 2021, it witnessed record-breaking viewership at the Austin GP, which gave a boost to organizing more races in the States. Given that the race in front of the Hard Rock Stadium saw an increase of 27% in viewership compared to the race at COTA, it is no doubt that the future looks bright for it.

However, the management constructed the track on the city streets of the Florida town. This resulted in poor asphalt which restricted the F1 drivers from pushing the limits while racing. The Red Bull driver, Sergio Perez, said “the surface is a joke, the racing is going to be difficult and you’re going to have the drivers making mistakes because we’ve been put into this situation.” 

His teammate, Verstappen had a mutual opinion “almost feels like gravel”.

The former world champion, Fernando Alonso added to the debate “the tarmac is not F1 standard. There’s gravel off-line, it’s going to be difficult. There’s nothing we can do. This weekend we need to put on the show, but this has to change for next year. It’s very difficult to race like this.”

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Ahead of the season, F1 signed a 10-year contract with the Miami officials, which keeps it on the calendar until 2031. Nevertheless, it needs a lot of work to improve the prospects of a thrilling race. What did you think about the Miami race this year?