MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The Formula One Miami Grand Prix will remain on the F1 calendar through 2041 – a major announcement by the organization ahead of the fourth annual Miami race.
It’s a 10-year extension, beyond an initial 10-year deal, for the race held at the Miami International Autodrome uniquely surrounding the Miami Dolphins’ Hard Rock Stadium.
Dolphins owner Stephen Ross and CEO Tom Garfinkel have been instrumental in adding auto racing to their NFL business, while contributing to F1’s footprint in the United States along with Austin, Texas, and Las Vegas since its inception in 2021.
F1 president and CEO Stefano Domenicali said Miami is “the best partner we have” during a press conference to announce the race extension on May 2.
“Miami will be part of our biggest strategy in the United States of America. It’s been incredibly successful and will be one of the pillars for our growth in this country,” Domenicali said.
Added Garfinkel: “First of all, without Steve Ross’s private investment commitment trust in all of us to do this, it’s not possible. There’s a significant private investment that goes into doing something like this at this scale and it’s not possible without Stefano and Formula One and everybody who’s been so helpful in this process. So, what this enables us to do now is continue to invest more into this event, continue to try to make it even better than we have — which is a goal that we have every year.”
Since its inception in 2022, the Miami Grand Prix has generated $1 billion in economic impact through the first three years of the race, according to F1.
“When we did the comparison what we were bringing to the economical impact of the community when we have the race, I don’t want to say they were better than NFL because (Commissioner) Roger Goodell would not be very happy with me, but I would say we’re very competitive,” Domenicali said.
“That means we made the right decision, and that’s why we want to think longer as we [announced] today.”
The extension announcement comes nearly three months after Miami won F1 promoter of the year for “the best all-round event in 2024” that “embodied the F1 mission statement to deliver the world’s greatest sports and entertainment spectacle.
Garfinkel said the first race in 2022 was about trying to pull off the race in the post-pandemic world with just 11 months to build it. The second race in 2023 saw the permanent paddock structure built alongside Hard Rock Stadium, an investment in wider pedestrian point of sale systems, bathrooms and other improvements. The finetuning continued for last year’s race.
“We got feedback and tried to tweak on and make it even better. And that’s what we’re still doing now,” Garfinkel said of the race.
“We are a creative, innovative group, and I think you might see some new things hopefully moving forward. We’re talking through what that could be.”
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won the 2022 and 2023 Miami races, while McLaren’s Lando Norris won his first career F1 race at Miami last year. The race had weekend attendances of 242,955 in 2022, 270,000 in 2023, and 275,000 in 2024.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Formula One Miami Grand Prix will continue through 2041 in new deal
