The peculiar seduction of Miami: potholes, yachts on concrete and Super Bowl atmosphere

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Permits from the city, county and the Florida Department of Transportation had to be negotiated relentlessly for months.

The option of Miami Beach and the downtown streets had to be ruled out to find a place in the Hard Rock Stadium area, the coliseum where

raised his first Masters 1000 title a few weeks ago. Some of the outlandish ideas of

, CEO of the Dolphins, hell-bent on building an artificial harbor, with yachts moored on turquoise-tinted concrete.

It was necessary to adapt to new business approaches, aimed at attracting young people through social networks.

There was so much to come, that F1 might as well have been satisfied.

But no.

This weekend's Miami GP is just the tip of the spear for an even bigger undertaking.

Since his appointment in February as F1's commercial director,

has had to live with the long shadow of his predecessor in office.

was the great architect of

, the series that had raised the popularity of this sport to heights unknown in the United States.

However, that milestone was not enough for his bosses.

-CEO of F1- and

-his counterpart in the owner company, Liberty Media- opted for Snow, a young executive with experience in the video game sector or the NBA.

And they entrusted him with an objective above the rest: to strengthen the North American market.

Next season, F1 will host three races in the United States (Austin, Miami and Las Vegas), one in Canada and one in Mexico, so Snow will have to look for more sponsors ahead of the continental tour.

For this weekend in Miami, Domenicali and Maffei had already closed a more than juicy contract with one of the leaders in the cryptocurrency sector and the appearance of

on

, one of the star programs of the ABC network. .

Added to this commercial support was the success in ticket sales, which sold out in just 40 minutes as soon as they were made available to fans.

The criticism of the residents of Miami Gardens, mostly black and Latino, mattered little, because the luxurious hotels of South Beach did not admit one more reservation.

Even

AlphaTauri pilot

"They looked at me like I was crazy"

After all, Hard Rock Stadium has hosted six NFL Finals thanks to the influence of

.

The 81-year-old billionaire owner of the Dolphins had been trying to seduce F1 since 2017, although only the peculiar efforts of Garfinkel, his right-hand man, brought the company to fruition.

He must have learned a lot at Chip Ganassi, one of the most influential teams in IndyCar, because Garfinkel was able to convince the directors of Liberty Media even with the most crazy of his projects.

When they warned him of the impossibility of reproducing, 15 kilometers from the coast, the Monaco Yacht Club, he did not even blink.

"They looked at me like I was crazy. So I drew my project on a blackboard while I told them: 'Here I want a marina with yachts. Let's make it happen,'" he explained during a recent interview with

.

In this way, South Florida Motorsports, the subsidiary supported by Ross, reached an agreement with the Great Circus for the next 10 seasons.

Whoever wants to see the cars pass through that exclusive area today, located between turns six and eight, will have to pay $9,500 for such a peculiar berth.

A few meters further on, on a newly paved surface and with very little grip off the line,

and

could face each other in the very delicate chicane, under the Florida's Turnpike highway bridges.

"It is an extremely complicated track, with many potholes in some areas. It is not what we expected," warned

on Friday .

One of the yachts moored on the cement of the Miami Yacht Club. AFP

In any case, it does not seem by chance that these new directions in the top motoring category coincide with the decline of some of its historic venues, such as Monaco, Spa-Francorchamps or Paul Ricard.

Now that exorbitant fees are paid from the Middle East, close to 50 million euros per race, the weight of tradition matters less for Liberty Media.

And as a last sample, the case of Las Vegas, an event promoted from F1 itself.

More than four decades later, cars will once again roar at 340 km/h next to the Bellagio Fountains.

The change of race schedule to Saturday night, with the spotlights illuminating the City of Sin, will multiply the attractiveness of the long-awaited event, scheduled for November 2023.

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