Organisers of Formula 1’s Miami Grand Prix will resurface the track and relocate the paddock ahead of its second event this May.
Miami joined the calendar in 2022 at a semi-permanent facility constructed on the Hard Rock Stadium campus in Miami Gardens.
As part of the revisions for 2023 the track will be resurfaced, following criticism of the lack of off-line grip in 2022, though the layout itself will not be amended.
Some of the run-off areas will be slightly remodelled in order to accommodate revised hospitality units.
The paddock, which last year was located behind the pit lane, will be expanded, with the team hospitality units to be constructed inside the Hard Rock Stadium.
That means fans with campus passes will be able to watch the F1 paddock from the 300 level of the Hard Rock Stadium.
The Hard Rock Stadium is the home of the Miami Dolphins and also houses Center Court of the Miami Open tennis tournament.
“We’ll be taking the tennis court down inside the stadium and moving the team hospitalities and creating a team hospitality village in the paddock actually on the football field, it’ll extend all the way through the garages,” said Miami GP Managing Partner Tom Garfinkel.
On the decision to resurface the track, Garfinkel said: “We could have just come back with the race track that we had last year, and the goal we set out was to have great racing and a lot of overtaking, with side-by-side racing.
“There were parts of the race track where there was one line where there should have been the possibility to overtake, and so we weren’t happy with that.
“We’re going to go through with the investment and expense to go ahead and repave it in an effort to get it where it races better.
“It raced well enough according to the teams and drivers but we want it to be as good as it can possibly be so that’s why we’re going to repave it.”
Garfinkel added that organisers “thought about flattening out” the chicane prior to the back straight and that there was mixed reaction to that segment of track.
The chicane was created with a dip due to FIA regulations concerning height restrictions – with a highway overpass above – while there is also a lack of space to create run-off in that section.
“We talked to all the Team Principals, the drivers, Formula 1 and the FIA – there was differing opinions about the chicane,” said Garfinkel.
“Some of the drivers liked it, some didn’t, some didn’t care. We went through it with F1, the FIA and Tilke and decided right now we’re not going to make changes.”
Organisers are also constructing a permanent three-storey Paddock Club, above the existing pit building, in place of last year’s temporary facility.
