A circuit in the parking lot of an American football stadium, put like that, sounds crappy. But don’t let the papier-mâché yachts on water prevent you from seeing the forest, nothing could be further from the truth: Miami has prepared a track of the highest level that greatly improves the facilities of most European tracks, with removable grandstands that seem fixed and an asphalt at the height of the event. The first Miami GP in the surroundings of the Hard Rock Stadium has aroused an unprecedented expectation in North America: ‘sold out’ of the 240,000 tickets, almost all of them exceed 1,000 dollars, and a very large occupancy of the hotels in the surroundings, although many locals still do not know the meaning of Formula 1.
On the 5.41 kilometer circuit, 19 curves and three enormous straights with DRS (the longest, 1.28 kilometres), 320 kilometers per hour will be reached. It is designed specifically for the single-seaters of 2022 and wheel-to-wheel fights are expected. Its planning began in the summer of 2019 and the work on the ground in April 2021. For 12 months, 24 tons of asphalt have been used, the last layer of which was spread in February 2022. They have applied a pressurized water treatment on the tar to avoid the classic landslides of freshly laid asphalt, as happened in Portugal and Turkey 2020.
Among the particularities of the design carried out by Apex Circuit Design: the very fast turn 4 will be very demanding, with 5G forces, and turns 11, 17 and perhaps 1 promise overtaking. In the narrow chicane that makes up turns 13 to 16, drivers can make mistakes that often end up in the wall.
Earrings of the sun… and of the clouds
Added to the technical factor of Miami Gardens is the weather: the temperature is very high, it will range between 25 and 32 degrees throughout the weekend. The humidity is around 70%. These are conditions typical of the Singapore GP with one peculiarity: it is daytime, the sun is beating down and the drivers will compete in the most demanding conditions. The rain may make an appearance in the coming days because the storms are random and frequent, almost daily. When the skies open, it is better to take cover, locals warn. Greenery abounds in Miami, but you don’t need to water.