The Miami Grand Prix Disneyfied Formula 1 — And It's Working

Of all the mega events that take over our city for a week each year, the Miami Grand Prix feels like a super concentration of all the most "Miami" things about Miami.

Everything is loud, from the roar of the engines to the booming EDM music played across the Hard Rock Stadium campus. Everything is artificial and temporary, from the infamous "fake marina" that press releases from the organizers are now calling "iconic" to the track that will be mostly dismantled in a week's time after the race. Everything is expensive: While food and beverage prices vary depending on what area you're in (some are complementary), certain merch items, such as a special white Ferrari hat with Lewis Hamilton's logo, are being sold for twice their online price.

There are celebrities and influential people everywhere, and a lot of them feel like larger-than-life characters — Donald Trump made an appearance last year, as did Logan Paul, and fans can encounter the likes of Guenther Steiner, the caustic former Haas team principal made famous by the Netflix series Drive to Survive, at the podcast stage on top of the stadium. And of course, you have expensive cars going way too fast, but at least here they're driven by professionals on a closed track, instead of tourists in rented Lamborghinis street racing on I-95.

What attracts these people to Miami in particular? There's much to be said about the visitor experience, which feels less like a traditional sporting event and more like a festival or, appropriately for Florida, a theme park. On the main campus, there are stalls everywhere selling food, beverages, and merch. Spectators line up to try racing simulators and marvel at full-scale Lego models of the cars, or ride on the gondola that traverses different areas of the course. Some have even paid for the privilege of taking a ride around the track.

It's all very Disneyfied — the racing itself occasionally feels like mere background noise. That theme-park-inspired approach to hospitality is exactly how managing partner Tom Garfinkel envisioned the event.

"It was a conscious thing that we wanted to do," Garfinkel, who is also CEO of the Miami Dolphins, told New Times. "The people that are coming and enjoying the campus pass talk about what a great experience it is, because there's so many different places you can go. I kind of envisioned it like a Disneyland map. Do you want to go to Treasure Island or Magic Mountain or Pirates of the Caribbean? And that's kind of how it is — 'Well, do you want to go to the beach? Do you want to go to the yachts? Do you want to go to this bar? Do you want to go to this restaurant? Let's go get a Miami Slice pizza, and then let's go to the champagne tent.' And so I think from that standpoint, there's just so much to do here."

And that's all just in the public areas. An important part of the Miami race experience is the premium nature of the weekend. There are nearly as many distinct VIP zones as there are cars on the track, such as the Hard Rock Beach Club, where EDM stars such as Pitbull, Kaskade, and Steve Aoki perform for race fans.

One of the swankiest areas was the Casa Tua Trackside Lounge, themed after the luxury hospitality brand. They held a media event Thursday evening — the only way I would have gotten in, because a three-day pass for the area costs $11,000 per head. The darkly-lit, opulently-decorated club features three different areas in addition to trackside seating right next to turns 1 and 2. One room featured a Moroccan palace aesthetic with a mezze bar, waitresses in Middle Eastern clothing, and a DJ playing tech house music. The main space had a salsa band playing for guests, and behind a mirror on the far side of the room was a speakeasy where a sushi chef served pieces of nigiri dusted with truffle oil and topped with caviar.

That level of luxury is also present in the paddock, where the real stars and high-rollers hobnob with the teams themselves. On a brief walkthrough after the sprint race Saturday afternoon, past champagne bars and upscale food options from Gordon Ramsay and Jimmy Butler's Bigface Coffee brand, I caught sight of Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer giving an interview in front of the booth for F1, the upcoming Brad Pitt-starring blockbuster movie. Props from the film were on display nearby, and guests lined up to buy custom merch designed by Tommy Hilfiger. Listening stations also gave exclusive previews of the film's star-studded soundtrack, and one of its featured artists, K-pop star Rosé, waved the checkered flag for the sprint.

The appeal of the event can't really be denied at this point. Certainly, the drivers themselves seem to like what they see of Miami. In the Thursday press conferences, all the interviewed athletes praised the event. Last year's champion, Lando Norris of McLaren, called Miami "a great place," while Pierre Gasly of Alpine declared, "I love everything about it." Their only reservations were with, of course, the abysmal traffic.

They're not alone, and the numbers bear this out. The event attracted 275,000 fans in 2024, and ticket prices are lower than ever. More than 3 million viewers watched the race on TV last year, the largest TV audience for an F1 race in U.S. broadcasting history. Miami has become the cornerstone of F1's expansion plans in the U.S., a region it long struggled to make waves in until the Netflix documentary series Drive to Survive and its behind-the-scenes, dramatically embellished reality TV storytelling popularized it here. It's so pivotal, in fact, that a 10-year contract extension for the event was announced this weekend ahead of the race itself, meaning the race will stick around until 2041.

More and more Americans want to experience Formula 1 up close and personal, and Miami's non-traditional take on the sport has become their gateway.