In his first guest appearance on the
blog, Nick Alexander poses the question, is or should Miami be on the
cards as Liberty look to expand the sports reach in the USA.
In November 2017, the Miami Herald
reported on a meeting between key city officials and Formula 1.
Executives and engineers with the
global racing brand were in town this month, meeting with Miami’s
new mayor and the city’s head of film and culture to go over
potential racing circuits and logistics.
At that time, the city reportedly
hoped to bring a street circuit to downtown by 2020.
I’ll admit, I don’t regularly read
the Miami Herald (simply as I am not a resident of the greater Miami
area – I have no thoughts about the publication either way). I
found the above article in doing my research for my own article. For
the next few months, I did not find much news about a Miami race
specifically. I say “specifically,” because Liberty Media have
openly discussed the possibility of a second U.S. Grand Prix (or
shall I say, a second Grand Prix in the United States – who knows
which race would be called what) both before and after this November
meeting, without naming one particular city. For example, a cursory
search engine inquiry of your choice (and you know which one has its
own verb) might lead you to an April 2017 Road & Track
(which I receive in print and flip through) article about the
possibility of a night street race in… New Jersey?
I didn’t think anything about a
Miami Grand Prix (working title) at all until I came across a most
intriguing article in Auto Motor und Sport (which I do actually read
most) from 28 Feb 2018 titled, Hanoi, Miami, and Buenos Aires: Three
new F1 races for 2019? *
“According to information from
Auto Motor und Sport, Hanoi and Miami are highly likely to already be
a part of the calendar next year.”
You don’t need me to translate the
rest of the article. Google will do a decent job at the rest for this
article (good luck with the technical stuff though)!
There’s really not much in it. It’s
actually, well, a tease.
If you haven't realised by now, I’m
an American F1 fan living in North Carolina. Miami isn’t that far
away. And while I haven’t been, I’d like to go. It might not be
on the very top of my list of American cities to see (there are a
lot), it’s relatively up there. With an F1 race, it would pretty
much move up to the top spot instantly. The AMuS article really got
me thinking…
I don’t intend to make this a
travel article, but Miami has plenty to offer:
- Latin food, dancing and culture, Little Havana
- Restaurants and nightlife
- Have you had authentic Cuban food?
- Parks and beaches like Everglades National Park and South Beach
- An airboat everglades tour seems like the full experience
- All four major U.S. pro sports (hockey, basketball, baseball, and football with the Florida Panthers and the Miami Heat, Marlins, and Dolphins, respectively).
Miami is easy to get to for many
people, with nonstop flights to:
- 50 U.S. airports,
- the two most populous Canadian cities (Toronto and Montreal),
- the eight most populous Latin American cities (Sao Paulo, Mexico City, Lima, Bogota, Rio de Janiero, Santiago, Caracas, and Buenos Aires) and,
- a respectable 10 of the top 19 most populous European cities (Istanbul, Moscow, London, Madrid, Rome, Paris, Vienna, Barcelona, Munich, and Milan)
(Flight info from airport website.
Population info from Wikipedia).
Not ready to fly straight back? If you
want a detour before you go home, pop over to the Bahamas, Cuba,
Hispaniola, Jamaica, or Puerto Rico.
But in talking about all these huge
cities you could fly from, let’s not forget how big Miami is,
ranking in at the eighth most populous U.S. metropolitan area. Would
you have guessed that? There’s some lower-ranking cities I’m
thinking would have come to your mind first, like Atlanta, Boston,
Detroit, and Seattle. Austin? Way down in 33rd.
I don’t know why I’m arguing for a
race in Miami. People seem already (from my nonscientific discussions
with other enthusiasts) to be on board with that. A new street
circuit (or any new circuit) is tantalizing for some. Miami has its
unique cultural appeal. It’s not extremely difficult to get to.
There’s plenty to do and plenty nearby to venture off to as well.
But what about two races in the
United States? Can the U.S. even have two races?
Let me get this out of the way. A
country can have two F1 races. It is not unprecedented. In fact, it
happens in Europe more often than not. The European Grand Prix
virtually means Grand Prix in a European country that has another
Grand Prix**. Recently, Valencia hosted the European Grand Prix from
2008-2012 (with Barcelona holding the Spanish Grand Prix). The
parallels between Valencia and Miami and Catalonia and Texas seem
endless. Before that, from 1999-2007, the Nürburgring hosted the
European Grand Prix (with the German Grand Prix at the
Hockenheimring).
I therefore hereby declare the Miami
Grand Prix shall be called the North American Grand Prix. I’m going
to also say right now that if Canada got another turn, my vote is for
Vancouver.
But should the U.S. have two races?
Why race in Austin if we’re going to race in Miami? Can the fanbase
support it?
These would be two completely different
races. Miami will be a street circuit. Different layout, challenges,
overtaking possibilities, etcetera.
“Texas is neither southern nor
Western. Texas is Texas.” Senator William Blakely.
Anyone who’s visited Texas likely
learned it was its own country, or at least they can sense it.
Suffice it to say, if you’ve been to either Texas or Florida, you
cannot be said to have experienced the other.
I don’t know if you’ve looked at
Miami on the map, even after reading this far, but it’s very much
in the corner of the United States. And I don’t know if you’ve
looked at the United States on the map, but it’s an enormous place.
Flights from Seattle to Miami? 6+ hours. That said, Miami is very
convenient for much of the east coast and internationally.
As I said above, I have not been to
Miami. I did, however, attend the 6 Hours of the Circuit of the
Americas last year (amazing, by the way), so I have been to Austin. I can
assure you, Miami and Austin are very much two different places.
Trade the Cuban food for barbeque. Trade Little Havana for Willie
Nelson Blvd. Trade the everglades for the hill country, South Beach
for Lady Bird Lake. Forget pro sports. Austin is weird.
Honestly, I’m lucky enough to have
direct flights to both Austin and Miami, so I could feasibly attend
both F1 races. I’m sure there are other enthusiasts on the east
coast who would be willing to take a direct flight for a 3-4 day
weekend in Austin one month and another direct flight for another 3-4
day weekend in Miami another month.
They may have
been meaning to go already. The perfect opportunity, or
rationalization? I’ll let you decide.
*At this point it would be fair to mention to the reader that I will be translating from German to English myself wherever applicable.
**The 2016 European Grand Prix in Baku,
Azerbaijan is an obvious exception, as there was only one Grand Prix
in Azerbaijan in 2016. I suspect this was more of a marketing
decision by the host country. The name has changed from 2017 onward
to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
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