Miami city commissioners have agreed to "negotiate a contract" with F1 to bring a street race to downtown next year, according to Joey Flechas of the MIAMI HERALD. In a unanimous vote on Thursday, commissioners authorized City Manager Emilio Gonzalez to work with F1 to "draw up a contract to stage a three-day Grand Prix event in downtown, every year for a decade," starting in October '19. Now Gonzalez has until July 1 to "negotiate a deal, which would still need final commission approval later this summer." Commissioners Joe Carollo and Ken Russell "acknowledged that the city will have to ease residents' concerns regarding noise and traffic the event will undoubtedly bring." The proposal is indeed "facing some opposition from downtown residents who are already tired of noise and traffic caused by nearby clubs and events held at Bayfront Park." Two neighborhood associations "sent the city letters voicing the same concerns" (MIAMI HERALD, 5/11). The AP's Jim Vertuno noted F1 has been "looking to expand in the U.S." since adding a race at Circuit of the Americas in Austin in '12. Miami would be the "fourth race in North America," with Montreal and Mexico City also having races, and would also Liberty Media, which owns F1, a "coveted showcase event in a U.S. city with international interest for fans of the global series." F1 has been "scouting locations" around Miami since last year. While no financial details have been released, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez has said that he "expects '99 percent' of financing for a Miami race to come from private sources with any city funds to be under $500,000" (AP, 5/10).
TRY AGAIN: In Ft. Lauderdale, Craig Davis notes F1 driver Lewis Hamilton has already given "thumbs down on the proposed route" of the Miami race. Hamilton offered his services in "helping design a race course better suited to the competitors and showcasing the event to spectators." When Russell tweeted a graphic of a 2.57-mile circuit, Hamilton offered immediate pushback on social media, writing: "OK, so I’ve just seen the design of the Miami track. Nah bruh, it’s not the one. Let me design it." The course features a "loop around AmericanAirlines Arena, a segment on Biscayne Boulevard with some tight turns near Bayside Marketplace and long runs across Port Boulevard Bridge to the Port of Miami and back to the mainland." Hamilton said that a "bad course can doom a race, and pointed to the example of the one that didn’t work well" in Valencia, Spain, from '08-12 (South Florida SUN SENTINEL, 5/11).
