Stats and facts for 2022 Miami Grand Prix

Hard Rock Stadium will sit at the heart of the Miami International Autodrome.

The Miami GP is the first circuit to be designed by and with the support of Formula 1. It will be a dynamic and free flowing track which will feature 2022 Formula 1 cars being put to the test on the first half of the World Championship calendar.

The Miami International Autodrome is a planned purpose-built temporary circuit around the Hard Rock Stadium and its private facilities in the Miami suburb of Miami Gardens, Florida. The track is due to be 3.36 mi (5.41 km) long and feature 19 corners with an anticipated average speed of around 139 mph (223 km/h). The track was specifically designed for the Miami Grand Prix, which was placed on the 2022 Formula One World Championship calendar.

The track had been proposed as early as October 2019 with an initial design at the venue, with up to 75 circuit designs having been considered, and 36 being simulated.[1][5] The stadium’s owner, Stephen Ross, had been attempting to attract Formula One for several years before the initial design was published. Organizers for the Grand Prix at the Hard Rock Stadium had an agreement in principle to host a Formula 1 event last season, but this plan was eventually postponed. Miami Gardens commissioners had initially voted against the track’s creation, but this was reversed on April 14, 2021. On September 2, 2021, the circuit was officially named the “Miami International Autodrome”.

This circuit, which is located within the private Hard Rock Stadium grounds, uses all new and existing roads within, with the new permanent asphalt pathways of the circuit integrated into the Hard Rock Stadium grounds. The venue is a temporary-type circuit, which will not use any public streets that are located around the Hard Rock Stadium. A few weeks before the race weekend, the circuit and its safety features were assembled just for the race weekend, while after the 2022 Miami Grand Prix, the track will be dismantled and the Hard Rock Stadium facility reverted back to normal.

Formula 1 simulated 36 different layouts in Miami Gardens

After initially trialling circuit layouts in Downtown Miami in August 2017, the promoter, Formula 1 and Apex Circuit Design switched their attention to a site a few miles north two years later. As well as site visits, the team spent several days on Google Earth, playing around with different combinations. It’s certainly not the work of a moment. Since work begun on the project four years ago, Apex and F1 have created a staggering 75 layout variations across the various proposed sites.

Focusing on the current site, the team have simulated an impressive 36 different layouts, before landing on the current iteration – a 19-turn track that has the Hard Rock Stadium at its heart – and will have an average speed of around 223km/h or 138mph.

As with all recent new layouts, passing opportunities have been one of the most important aspects which were taken into consideration by the designers when creating the Miami track, with two key overtaking points identified.

The first is left hander Turn 11, which comes at the end of the first of three planned DRS zones. The second is Turn 17, a tighter left hander at the end of the circuit’s longer straight, and second planned DRS zone. There is half a chance into Turn 1, too, as organisers are thinking of a third, even though shorter, DRS zone on the pit straight, that comes out of the fast Turn 19.