A Grand Prix in Miami in 2019?

The Miami municipal commission is expected to vote on May 10 on a proposal to begin preparations to host a Grand Prix in the city’s streets as early as 2019. If the vote is favorable, a formal contract could be signed between the municipal authorities and Formula 1 in early July 2018.

The project would be to organize a race during October 2019, the same month as the United States Grand Prix in Texas. The idea of including Miami in the F1 calendar is also supported by the Mayor of the Floridian city, Francis Suarez, as well as by three city commissioners.

The American group Liberty Media, which has owned the commercial rights to the discipline since last year, has been seeking to organize an additional race in the United States since acquiring F1, in addition to the one in Austin that takes place on the COTA circuit. Miami will also host a festival in the city this year before the United States Grand Prix.

The owners of F1 have already registered the names « Grand Prix de Miami » and « Miami Grand Prix » with the international intellectual property register. This would not be the first time this name would be used since IndyCar and Endurance races have been organized under this name from the 1980s until recently.

The last race to take place on the streets of Miami was in 2015, when Formula E organized a round there as part of its inaugural season. It did not succeed due to a poor location. Local authorities and the discipline’s owners then entered into a conflict, which prevented the organization of another edition.

The addition of this race theoretically should not change the number of Grand Prix for the 2019 season, since the race in Azerbaijan might not take place next year, although the city of Baku still has two years left on its contract with Formula 1. Discussions are also reportedly underway with the capital of Vietnam, Hanoi, but it’s unclear where exactly the process stands.