F1 News: This Isn’t Miami’s First Grand Prix But Locals Are Still Complaining About Upcoming Race Weekend

This coming weekend will see the F1 race in Miami for the first time in the sport’s history, but this won’t be the first time Miami has been home to a Grand Prix. Between 1983-2003, the location was home to a street race for IMSA, IndyCar, and Trans-Am.

On top of this, Formula E had a single race in downtown Miami in 2015. Using the Miami Heat stadium’s infrastructure, the track looped around the arena and made its way North on Biscayne Boulevard before a left turn to NE 2nd Ave underneath the elevated MacArthur Causeway. Finally, it ran back past Museum Park. Two years later in 2017, it was announced that the F1 was supposed to join Miami’s scarce racing history, but it was cancelled in 2019 due to complaints from residents.

These complaints revolved around the amount of noise over a racing weekend which could cause hearing loss in locals, as well as violate the city’s noise ordinance.

The opposition eventually swayed the local government as they feared they’d lose their seats if this wasn’t seen through and stopped, but eventually a semi-permeant track at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens was finally approved for use in 2022.

This hasn’t stopped local residents from trying to get this race cancelled however, with some even continuing to complain up until a few weeks ago. Fortunately for us F1 fans, the race is going ahead and we’ll get to see if Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc is able to take a victory after Red Bull driver Max Verstappen dominated the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix two weekends ago.

Fans will also be interested in how the track has come together after we saw some questionable images of a fake Marina being built last week. We, of course, wanted to have our say on Twitter:

When a Rover SD1 has more water than the Miami GP 'mariner'. #f1 #MiamiGP pic.twitter.com/9v0ISA2cAh

— Grand Tour Nation (@GrandTourNation) May 1, 2022

So, are you excited about F1’s first trip to Miami? Let us know in the comments.