F1 Miami Grand Prix Organizers Weigh Night Race Possibility

• The Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix has been held in mid-late afternoon in early May since its inception in 2022.

• Organizers in Miami are discussing a move to late afternoon or even night.

• Factors in any move would include affects on the European TV schedule and the greater Miami Gardens community.

Organizers of Formula 1’s Miami Grand Prix are studying whether a twilight or night event would be feasible for the Grand Prix.

Miami joined Formula 1’s schedule in 2022, with the specially-designed street-style Miami International Autodrome looping around the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.

The event has been held in mid-late afternoon in early May since its inception, where it will stay in 2025 (May 4), but officials are assessing whether a night event would be viable.

“We’re not doing that [a night race] in 2025 but we’re in the middle of a study to see what it would look like, how it would impact,” Miami Grand Prix president Tyler Epp told Autoweek.

“I will tell you there are some unintended consequences of that, that even in our early discussions we’ve got to make sure we’re aware of.

“It’s really more about a couple of big points: No. 1, as it relates to the broadcast business for Formula 1 and how that does push it back a little bit and make it difficult for other parts of the world to see what we’re doing.

“And the other piece is the impact on the community, and making sure we’re aware and cognizant of the impact it has, moving the race back to a twilight or an evening race, and how that impacts the community of Miami Gardens, and making sure we’re ahead of that.

“We’re just at the beginning stages of looking at that optionality, we’ll see where we land on it, 2025 will be late afternoon, as we always are, Eastern Time.

“We do need to make sure that all the consequences [of a night race] are planned ahead for.”

Miami held F1 Sprint in 2024 for the first time and the circuit has already committed to running the format in 2025, as well as in 2026.

“I will admit I was very wary of the sprint race and the impact it’d have,” Epp said. “It was a positive for us, our single day attendance was up on Saturday, and the feedback was [that was] directly because of the sprint race; you couple the sprint race with quali for the grand prix, it’s positive.

“I think we’re committed for the next two years with F1 to run the sprint, we’re very happy with that to this point; where we go from there, I don’t know.”

Epp added that Miami plans to “increase attendance heading into next year, but not by a ton. We’re hyper focused on the fan experience so just flooding the market with more people and having more people on campus creates some bottlenecks and things we’d want to avoid.”

Epp was speaking in the wake of tickets going on sale for next May’s Miami Grand Prix, with a new Grandstand Membership program, aimed at rewarding loyal attendees.

“I think one of the key things we’re looking at is to stabilize the fanbase and that’s manifested itself in the membership programme we’re rolling out,” he said. “We’re stealing a page from the [Miami] Dolphins’ playbook a little bit and saying ‘okay how do we really take care of the people who continues to support us year after year after year,’ we’re pulling about 40% of our general base from South Florida, so how do we take care of these people?

"That’s been rolled out, hopefully reflects our commitment, it offers discounted tickets, an opportunity to spread the payments out over a year, experiences around the F1 weekend, but also touch points outside of the weekend.”

Miami is now one of three U.S. races, following last year’s addition of Las Vegas, which joined long-term U.S. Grand Prix home Austin, and Epp has been encouraged by the differences between the events.

“I think Formula 1 gets some credit here for allowing us as promoters and individual races to represent our marketplace,” he says. “I think the US races specifically do that in spades, you go to Vegas you feel like you’re in Vegas, hopefully in Miami you feel like you’re in Miami, and Austin the same way, they have a completely different offering for fans.

“The working relationship is really positive; the team in Austin works well together, we understand what each other is doing, we talk to Vegas very frequently, especially in the luxury market, we’ve got a lot to learn from each other, it’s a healthy working relationship—and adding Canada and Mexico to that in the North American centre as well.”

Miami has avoided the risk that years two and three of an event can dip after the initial interest and shine of a new race wears off and there is now a stable platform on which to build.

“We feel like we’ve evolved every single year, there’s different challenges every single year, we look at it like it’s an opportunity to stabilize the business a bit,” he says.

“I think we have strong ambitions, we want to be one of those key races in the calendar for Formula 1, the FIA, the teams, for the media, for our partners and for our fans. It will take time, we’re in the business of creating experiences.

"So when we do have moments like Lando [Norris] winning his first race, or great passes in particular turns, and meaningful moments in history, it helps our circuit and event. It does take time, but it’s also intentional that we’re being thoughtful and strategic in delivering the experience.”