Fast facts ahead of the Miami Grand Prix

F1 Grand Prix, GP Miami, Miami

Following the enthralling Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, teams made the long trip from Italy to the east of the USA with Florida hosting the inaugural Miami Grand Prix this weekend. F1Technical's Balázs Szabó picks out some of the key facts from the inaugural Miami Grand Prix.

Although the Miami International Autodrome was expected to favour Red Bull’s RB18 due to its high-speed long straights, Ferrari surprisingly snapped up their first 1-2 yesterday since the 2019 Mexican Grand Prix. However, championship leader Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz are perfectly aware of the fact that they will be under attack from the two Red Bulls just as they were in Jeddah due to the RB18’s superior top speeds.

11th US venue - The Miami Grand Prix makes its Formula One debut today, as the Miami International Autodrome hosts the fifth round of the 2022 World Championship, becoming the USA’s eleventh different F1 venue. The US Grand Prix has been held on six different venues – Sebring, Riverside, Watkins Glen, Phoenix, Indianapolis and Austin. The other races were held at Long Beach, Las Vegas, Detroit and Dallas.

71th race in the USA – In total, Formula One has visited the USA 71 times of which 11 grands prix were Indy 500 races.

76th venue – The Miami International Autodrome is the 76th venue at which an FIA Formula One World Championship race has been contested.

Average length – The Miami International Autodrome has a total length of 5.412km which makes it an average circuit on the current race calendar in terms of length. Drivers will need to complete 57 laps today in a bid to cover the entire race distance of 308.326km.

Hybrid track - The challenging track features 19 corners and three straights, designed with a street-circuit feel to encourage thrilling racing.

Iconic location – Located in the suburb of Miami Gardens, the 5.412km Miami International Autodrome is set in the immense Hard Rock Stadium complex: a venue familiar with putting on a show, having hosted no less than six Super Bowls, two Baseball World Series and concerts for musical icons including The Rolling Stones, U2, Coldplay and Madonna.

Intense research – The Miami track has been created specially to bring Formula 1 to the city and is designed to be a temporary layout but with a permanent feel. In order to guarantee good racing, as many as 75 different layouts are said to have been considered, with 36 of those being simulated.

The most successful - As of 2021, the US Grand Prix has been held 50 times with Ferrari being the most successful team thanks to their ten wins. Lining up behind the Scuderia are Lotus and McLaren with eight victories apiece and Mercedes with five triumphs. Red Bull have also won the US Grand Prix two times.

When it comes to the drivers, it is Lewis Hamilton with the best record as the Briton has won on six occasions with Michael Schumacher having recorded five victories. Graham Hill and Jim Clark both won the US Grand Prix on three occasions apiece.

Pit lane - The Miami International Autodrome has an interesting curved pit lane entry with drivers forced to adhere to a speed limit of 80km/h in the pit lane.

Powerful DRS zones – The Miami International Autodrome will offer three DRS zones to drivers to try to execute an overtaking manoeuvre. The first DRS zone has a detection point of 83m after Turn 8 and an activation point of 67m after Turn 9. The second DRS zone has a detection point of 73m after Turn 16 and an activation point of 450m after Turn 16. Drivers will be able to activate the DRS for a third time when they hit the apex at Turn 19 with this third DRS Zone having a detection point of 19m after Turn 17.

The conservative choice - For the very first visit to the eagerly-anticipated Miami street circuit, Pirelli has chosen the three tyres in the middle of the range: P Zero White hard is the C2, P Zero Yellow medium is the C3, and P Zero Red soft is the C4. This combination is the most commonly-used one all year, and also the most versatile.

Multiculturalism - Hispanics and Latinos comprise over 70% of the population of Miami, with 35% of the populace being of Cuban origin, culturally centred around the 50,000-strong neighbourhood of Little Havana, located just to the west of downtown.