Story By: Erin Zollars
Photos By: Sol Tucker
Miami Gardens, FL–
Looks like the Miami GP was another success for 2024 and it was certainly a huge success for Lando Norris and Team McLaren as they grabbed the 1st place hardware and stepped on the podium in that spot for the first time since 2012.
Norris joined the F1 grid in 2019 and completed over 6,000 laps in six years heading into the Miami Grand Prix weekend. He has secured pole position before (at Monza in 2021) and had multiple podium finishes over the years, but he just couldn’t find a way to pop the champagne on the winner’s podium.
With everyone wanting to see Max Verstappen repeat, it was certainly a fresh change for quite few wearing Orange and Black in the Paddock area. The final margin ended up being over seven seconds.
While walking around the track you could sense that F1 is continuing to grow on Miami. They seem to be working on the fan experiences at the track and have realized that high suite gouge pricing doesn’t seem to work in The Campus area.
What we found is those in the Hard Rock Beach area were paying the most for food pricing for $180 for Carnitas Nachos and over $290 for other food options. I guess the pool and cabana area helps offset the price to actually not starve during the 8 to 10 hours most fans will spend at the track if they get there right when the gates open.
Of course, the race wouldn’t end without some off the track drama from former president Donald J. Trump.
Earlier in the week Trump had been told by F1 officials that he could not host a 250k per person fundraiser in a suite. Today he showed up pre-race on the grid to a chant of “USA, USA” and then later showed up to congratulate Norris in what people thought took away the spotlight away from Norris winning the race.
Overall, the race seemed to score high marks from those we talked to around town and plenty of activations all around the city showed F1 and its sponsors commitment. Plenty of events such as Amex Carbone Beach saw stars like Elon Musk and LeBron James entering the 3k Beachside Dinner presented by Amex on Saturday night packed full of people trying to grab a glimpse of the stars to the clubs such as E11ven hosting 50 Cent and DJ Khaled all weekend long.
Despite the growing popularity, F1 says it doesn’t have any plans to expand to another race in the United States, however, it is looking at other cities in other countries for additional races.