We experienced a different perspective of the Miami Grand Prix this weekend (Image: MSC)
Miami has a strong claim to be one of the best host cities in Formula 1. It also, unfortunately, features one of the least inspiring circuits and another significant problem in terms of some of the clientele it is attracting. Those are the conclusions that I drew after attending this year’s event.
It was my second year in a row at the Miami Grand Prix. It was a trip that I looked forward to enormously, having really enjoyed my first trip to the Sunshine state. And, as was the case on my 2025 visit, spending a long weekend in the lush, diverse Floridian city was a real pleasure.
What a shame, then, that the on-track product fails to match the city and even the wider event around it. The organisers do a great job of putting on a superb show around Hard Rock Stadium, putting on a swathe of activities that reflect Miami’s varying cultural offerings.
But this is a round of the F1 World Championship – the race should be the main event and, again, it failed to deliver. Max Verstappen‘s dramatic spin on lap one made for an edge-of-your-seat start, while Charles Leclerc’s brush with the barrier which damaged his Ferrari and saw him freefall from podium contention to sixth – eighth after a post-race penalty – made for a nail-biting finale.
Take those two incidents out of the equation, however, and there was little to write home about on Sunday. There were some nice storylines, like Kimi Antonelli’s impressive defence against Lando Norris to win a third race in a row, and Franco Colapinto converting his strong weekend into his best F1 result to date. But little other action that got me even close to the edge of my seat.
From what I saw, though, even if we had some last lap of the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP-level drama, it still wouldn’t have made much of an impression on some of those who were there. I would have phrased the end of that last sentence: “Those who were there to see it,” except that I noticed there were plenty in attendance who seemingly had no interest at all in what was happening on track.
In addition to my usual media duties, I took MSC Cruises up on their very kind offer to sample their hospitality offering which is new for the 2026 edition of the Miami race. So I took my laptop down there, where you could see the track from turns five to nine, to enjoy getting a taste of the fans’ experience – to find that a worryingly large number were passing up the opportunity entirely.
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A two-day pass for the MSC Yacht Club cost anywhere between £2,850 and £3,670 – roughly 10-times the general admission price – and with great views of the Stadium and circuit, great food and an open bar, it’s the sort of experience die-hard motorsport fans would give anything they could to experience.
How disappointing it was to see so many of those who were there staring at their phones, idly chatting inside or doing pretty much anything other than watching the race, either with their own eyes on the track or even via the many TVs dotted around the luxury Yacht Club. Many of them, it seemed, had taken all their selfies and so saw no further use in an event they wanted to be seen at more than they wanted to actually see.
The Miami event has so much potential and, with a contract to stay on the F1 calendar every year until 2041, it’s here to stay whether you like it or not. But for all those years the ‘Miami International Autodrome’ will continue to be a soulless racing venue for as long as there is such apathy among some of those who attend.