McLaren Racing – Miami track guide

The Miami International Autodrome (MIA) at the Hard Rock Stadium is the 76th venue to host F1, and the first in Florida since Bruce McLaren took his maiden F1 victory at the 1959 US Grand Prix in Sebring.

MIA is unique. It’s built on the parking lots surrounding the Hard Rock Stadium, but it isn’t a parking lot track in the sense that the Caesars Palace Grand Prix in the early 1980s was. Nor is it a street circuit – though it’s often referred to as such. MIA is a permanent circuit, and constructed and graded as such – albeit a permanent circuit on which all of the visible surface furniture will be removed after the race, allowing the land to revert to its usual usage as tennis courts, merchandising and, yes, car parking.

The track that we have is challenging. It features some very long straights in the style of Baku, high-speed corners in the style of Silverstone or Suzuka and an incredibly tight stadium section that has hints of Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez but really isn’t like anything else on the calendar. McLaren F1 Test & Development driver Will Stevens has been in the sim, preparing the team for Project Miami. We’ve got his first thoughts on F1’s newest venue.