What Do You Want To See From the F1 Miami Grand Prix This Weekend?
F1 makes its Miami debut this weekend, and we’re live on the scene. What do you want out of this race?
When you think about it, Miami feels already tailor-made to host a Formula 1 race. On a good day, Ferraris and Rolls-Royces and Bentleys are standard fare in the Design District, billboards for brands like IWC and Balenciaga dot the highways, and you almost look out of place if you aren't dressed like you're going to a party later. It's an international city, loaded with new and old money, and it has the luxury vibe F1 covets nailed to a T. Today, in fact, fashion trade pub WWD wrote: "With its cerulean waterways, historic excess and rocket-high housing prices... [Miami] is quickly becoming the United States’ own version of Monte Carlo." Now, we're about to see if this city can put on a race worthy of all those glamorous vibes.
Thanks, in no small part, to the success of Netflix's Drive to Survive show—possibly one of the only reliably good Netflix shows left—F1 is having a moment in America, and this weekend's inaugural Miami Grand Prix is where we'll see if all that hype and energy can deliver. And 10 years after F1's return to America at Austin's Circuit of the Americas, this will be a very different animal. Instead of a purpose-built, world-class racecourse and motorsports facility, we have a makeshift track called the Miami International Autodrome, built around the Hard Rock Stadium where the Miami Dolphins play. Any first-time race is sure to have some issues, and we've seen an on-again, off-again forecast for rain on race day Sunday. This could get really interesting on several levels.
Naturally, we're not ones to miss a good time or a major news event, so The Drive team is on the scene this weekend to better serve you. I'm posted up here, along with The Drive's Editor-in-Chief Kyle Cheromcha and Managing Editor Jerry Perez, and we'll be doing everything from supercar ridealongs to race reports to getting ourselves inexplicably invited to the fancy parties. To give you an idea of the aforementioned vibes, I was at a Mercedes-Benz party where musician will.i.am unveiled his new custom AMG GT Coupe, and I got to hang out with Jamie Foxx, Ludacris and Lil Wayne. And to be clear, by "hang out with," I mean "be in the same room with them and 200 people, very briefly." Still, though, not bad considering I was barely leaving my house two years ago.
We'll have a lot more coming today, including a primer on the race itself, if you're just tuning into the 2022 season for the first time or need to get caught up. And we'll be posting updates on the site and our Instagram all weekend.
So if you plan on watching, or attending, this weekend, what do you want to see? A heated battle where the NFL-stadium-turned-track holds its own against the best? A surprise comeback for Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, currently trailing in seventh in the standings? Another win for Ferrari's Charles Leclerc? Some wet weather to make things extra interesting? Let us know, and maybe we'll see you out there.
Contact the author: patrick@thedrive.com
