OUR STORY
The inclusion of Miami onto the Formula 1 schedule marks the 11th different venue in the United States to host a points-scoring round of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, since the series was inaugurated in 1950.
The Miami International Autodrome will stage its second-ever Grand Prix on May 5-7, 2023 in the latest chapter of America’s long and storied history of hosting top-class motor racing. Situated in Miami Gardens around the Hard Rock Stadium, the circuit took a little over 12 months to finish from detailed design to completed construction.
Initial planning on the newest venue in Formula 1 started in the summer of 2019, while the first moment of groundbreaking on the campus was in April 2021.
Over the course of 12 months, 14 million pounds of steel and aluminum, 1.3 million bolts, 24,000 tons of asphalt, 1,130 tons of concrete, 37,000 linear feet of concrete barriers and fencing, 18,000 linear feet of drainage system, 3,100 gallons of paint, and 56,782 miles of fiber and cabling on-site have been used across the site.
The foundations for the Pit Buildings were first laid on September 1, 2021 and those permanent features of the track were finished in January 2022. The Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix was only possible because of the over 100 contractor and agency groups, hundreds of employees, the fans, and our corporate partners.
The final result of all the construction works is a state-of-the-art 5.41km track, featuring 19 turns, three straights — the longest being 1.28km in length — and three DRS zones that will test drivers to the limit as they reach top speeds in the region of 320km/h.
The Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix was the second race held in the United States on the 2022 schedule. But while the location is new, it might be surprising to learn that Grand Prix racing has long been established in America — and actually has been part of the sporting way of life in the US as long as the Indianapolis 500.
History of formula 1 in the united states
Grand Prix motor racing, the sport on which the FIA Formula 1 World Championship is founded, dates back to the pioneering days of the automobile
1900
1903
It all started when American newspaper baron, James Gordon Bennett, seized upon the excitement that new city-to-city racing fostered and through his newspapers, the New York Herald and the International Herald Tribune, and established the Gordon Bennett Cup in 1900 as a new European event.
The Gordon Bennett Cup raced on a route that started and ended at the same place, further building excitement and making it easier for the press to capture the stories and photographs that they needed to fill their pages. This aspect was to prove decisive in the evolution of racing, because in 1903, city-to-city events were outlawed due to unmanageable public safety concerns. From now on, closed loops of roads – circuits – would become the norm.
The first ever Grand Prix, for which the ‘Big Prize’ was 45,000 French francs (equal to 28 lb of gold) was held over two days on June 26-27, 1906 on a 64-mile course on closed roads around the historic city of Le Mans.
The Grand Prix became firmly established as the biggest race in Europe, and in 1908 the US Grand Prize (as it was then called) was held on a 17-mile course on roads around the Island of Hope district of Savannah, Georgia.
1920
1925
In the 1920s, American involvement in Grand Prix racing tailed off with the rise of short oval circuits at fairgrounds which delivered a barnstorming all-action form of affordable competition. Meanwhile the growth of racing in Europe saw the establishment of a World Championship in 1925.
1945
1961
In 1945 the newly-formed Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) created two new categories, known as Formula 2 and Formula 1 respectively, and for 1950 the new FIA Formula 1 World Championship for drivers was founded, hosting its first race at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix.
There was no United States Grand Prix on the calendar in the first years of the World Championship, but instead the Indianapolis 500 became a points-scoring round from 1950 until 1960. Meanwhile a Manufacturers’ Championship was added to that for Drivers in 1958.
In 1959, the first Formula 1 Grand Prix was held in America at Sebring in Florida, where the World Championship was dramatically decided in favor of the independent Cooper team with its revolutionary cars powered by engines that were mounted behind the driver. Thus began the modern era of design, while the US Grand Prix moved to a new permanent home in 1961: Watkins Glen in upstate New York.
1976
1978
America’s first Formula 1 World Champion was also crowned in 1961: Miami-born Phil Hill, driving for the most celebrated team of them all, Scuderia Ferrari. A second American race, the US GP West, was added to the calendar in 1976 on the streets of Long Beach, California and in 1978 American racing legend Mario Andretti added the F1 World Championship title to his storied racing career alongside sports car titles, the Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar titles and the Daytona 500.
1980
2021
Through the 1980s, Formula 1 in America moved from Long Beach and Watkins Glen to Las Vegas, Detroit, Dallas and Phoenix before going on hiatus in 1992. It would return in 2000 to a new road racing course on the infield of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where it would remain until 2008. In 2012 a new venue for the US Grand Prix was completed in Austin Texas, the Circuit of The Americas, and then in April 2021 it was announced that Miami would be adding a new destination city to the global F1 schedule.
2022
The first Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix was held on May 6-8, 2022. The race in Miami added another new chapter in the long history of top-class motorsport and the United States.
2023
The second-ever Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix is set to take place at the Miami International Autodrome on May 5-7, 2023 and will be the first United States race of the season, marking round five of this year’s FIA Formula 1 World Championship.
