A Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix Week fan guide if you’re going (or wish you were)
Hip parties you can’t get into. Free fun parties you can. Drivers popping up everywhere from South Beach clubs to Home Depot in Hialeah. Slow, clogged conga lines of traffic from Miami Gardens to Little Havana. Talking torque.
Yep, the Formula 1 circus returns to town for another Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix week. And, this is a Miami F1 Week Guide for all with some interest, whether you’re a full wallow geek who would argue Fangio vs. Clark vs. Senna vs. Schumacher vs. Hamilton or just a toe-dipper who enjoys the atmosphere and cheers for the car with the coolest color scheme.
READ MORE: See Cadillac Formula 1’s special livery for its U.S. debut, the Miami Grand Prix
What’s different this year
On the track, there’s one more two-car F1 team, the U.S.-based Cadillac team, and one more race, the first Formula 2 race in the United States. With the ongoing war in Iran, April’s F2 races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia got switched to May races in Miami and Montreal, the first F2 races in North America. This year’s F2 driver lineup includes Californian IndyCar export Colton Herta as he prepares for what he hopes is an F1 ride with Cadillac F1.
Off the track, there’s an Official Miami Grand Prix Fan Fest at Miami Beach’s Luumus Park, 1130 Ocean Dr., for which you need only to claim free tickets. In addition to slot car racing, simulators for racing and pit stops, DJs, driver pop-ins, all manners of merch, food and drink, you can keep up with what’s happening on the track via screens showing the action live.
The Fan Fest starts at 2 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday; noon on Friday and Sunday; and 11:30 a.m. on Saturday. It ends — officially — at 6 p.m. each day.
This isn’t to be confused with the Racing Fan Fest at Wynwood Marketplace, 2250 NW Second Ave., an event in its fifth year. This runs Thursday, 4 p.m. to midnight; Friday, 4 p.m. to 3 a.m. ; Saturday noon to 3 a.m.; and Sunday, noon to 9 p.m. Get your free tickets on Eventbrite. Be one of the first 250 folks to show up on any given day and get a complimentary drink.
Since we were last here...
In this first season of a new formula, Mercedes has returned to the dominance it had during the Lewis Hamilton years, Kimi Antonelli winning the last two races after teammate George Russell took the season opener. The Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Hamilton run third and fourth in the driver points. Last year’s Constructors Champion as top team, McLaren, run fifth and sixth, respectively, with 2025 world champion Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who won four straight world titles from 2021 to 2024, has had a sixth and an eighth sandwiching a DNF (did not finish).
The above breaks trends that began with Norris’ upset 2024 Miami Grand Prix win that broke the Invincible Verstappen rampage. Going into that race, Verstappen had won 24 of the previous 28 Grands Prix. From then until the end of the 2025 season, Verstappen still won the most races, 13, but Norris won 11 and Piastri took nine. Russell ran first four times, Leclerc, thrice; Hamilton, twice; and Carlos Sainz, once.
In addition to brand new U.S.-based Cadillac Formula 1, with experienced drivers Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez and their combined 16 Grands Prix wins, there’s Audi’s a sort-of new team. The German car company hopes to bring its success in other racing series to F1 as it took over Sauber.
Track Times and Tickets
Gates open at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, 10 a.m. on Saturday and 8 a.m. on Sunday. The first serious wheels turning will be the noon Friday Formula 1 practice.
As for tickets, tou’ll have to hit the secondary market. Even the three-day general admission tickets to the Miami International Autodrome at Hard Rock Stadium for Friday (F1 practice, F1 Sprint qualifying, F2 qualifying), Saturday (F2 Sprint, F1 Sprint, F1 Grand Prix qualifying) and Sunday (F2 Feature Race, F1 Miami Grand Prix) are sold out.
Beating (or dealing with) the traffic
There’s only so much anyone can do about the Golden Glades and Interstate 95 constipation that had even worldly Formula 1 drivers commenting on Miami traffic last year.
READ MORE: Formula 1 drivers love Miami. Except for one thing locals hate, too
Oh, and there’s a PGA golf tournament at Trump National Doral this weekend also. That could mean a Presidential drop-in by the First Golfer, which would mean road-closing security measures that can turn a Sunday drive into a Sunday park-and-fume.
But, if you insist on driving, parking passes remain available on the Miami Grand Prix website. Don’t show up expecting to park without a pre-purchased pass. Also, for the College Football Playoff national championship game and Miami Open at Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens residents did what Little Havana residents around the Orange Bowl and Marlins Park have done for decades — use the lawn as a parking lot for supplemental income.
Also, if you drive, take note of these road closures: from 9 a.m. Thursday until 10 p.m. Sunday, the 2X exit of Florida’s Turnpike, both directions; Northwest 199th Street from 14th Court to 27th Avenue and Northwest 27th Avenue northbound at Northwest 199th Street on Friday from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.; Saturday from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m; and Sunday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Other transportation options
There will be Park and Ride Shuttles operating from 30 minutes before the gates open until 30 minutes after the campus closes on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. These shuttles can also be used for those using Uber, Lyft, Waymo or public transportation, but if you’re parking a car, you do need to buy a parking pass ahead of time.
If this feels like you, head for Lot 95 at the Golden Glades Park & Ride, 15890 NW Seventh Ave.; the Aventura Brightline station, 19796 W. Dixie Hwy; Lot 60 at Broward College South Campus, 7200 Pines Blvd.; or the Hard Rock Hotel, 1 Seminole Way.
Team/Driver events
Aston Martin
Anybody want to put down prop bets on which ends first, Law & Order: SVU or the F1 career of two-time world champion Fernando Alonso? Alonso, 44, will do a live Q&A at Aventura Mall’s Center Court on Thursday at 6 p.m. part of a partnership between Aston Martin and BOSS.
Audi
Audi’s Revolut F1 Team Miami Experience will run Thursday through Sunday at MAPS Backlot in Wynwood, 342 NW 24th St. Audi’s also doing “race week takeovers of select Rosetta Bakery locations across Miami.”
The event starts at noon on Thursday, Friday and Sunday, 11 a.m. on Saturday. It’s scheduled to end at 9 p.m. each night.
Cadillac
Want free Cadillac F1 swag? Be one of the first 15 people at these Cadillac Formula 1 Team headquarters on the chosen days.
Wednesday: Navi Coffee and Flowers, 3213 Grand Ave. in Coconut Grove, 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Thursday: The Wolf of Tacos, in the Miami Brightline station, 550 NW First Ave., noon to 1 p.m.
Friday: Chub’s Diner, 3444 Main Hwy. in Coconut Grove, noon to 1 p.m.
Food from Chub’s and The Wolf of Tacos will be among the chow at The Cadillac Formula 1 Team Headquarters in the Design District at Jungle Plaza, 3801 NE First Ave. You can RSVP for the gathering which will run Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., but entry is first come, come on in for music, food, drink and racing simulators.
In addition to music by DJ DZA, Berrakka, and Five Eleven and a Saturday night appearance by driver Sergio Perez, there will be watch parties for Saturday’s F1 Sprint race, Miami Grand Prix qualifying and Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix.
McLaren
The team fathered by 1960s Formula 1 and Can-Am driver and designer Bruce McLaren celebrates its 1,000th Grand Prix this week by taking over part of Coconut Grove.
Based out of Regatta Harbour, 3395 Pan American Dr., there will be driving and pit stop simulators, merchandise and a watch party on Sunday. Mastercard Small Business will be promoting Kendall-based Colada Kulture’s coffee cart, which will be serving custom drinks with designs of McLaren drivers.
Thursday, there will be a signing session and Q&A with McLaren’s IndyCar drivers Pato O’Ward, Christian Lundgaard, Nolan Siegel and Ryan Hunter-Reay.
Wednesday, McLaren will start the week with a parade of classic McLarens — the M23, driven by Emerson Fittipaldi to McLaren’s first world title in 1974; the MP4/6, which Ayrton Senna took to the 1991 championship; the MP4/14, Mika Hakkinen’s ride during his 1999 championship year; the MP4-23, the first of Lewis Hamilton’s world championship cars; and the MCL60, driven by McLaren during the 2023 season.
Driving these cars will be Fittipaldi, Hakkinen, 2013 Indianapolis 500 winner Tony Kanaan, Bruno Senna and current McLaren F1 drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.
Pan American Drive will be closed until Thursday at 4 p.m. Wednesday, S. Bayshore Dr. will be closed at 11 a.m. with all traffic rerouted to Tigertail Avenue until 10 p.m.
Williams
In addition to the Atlassian Williams fan zone at the Wynwood Marketplace (see above), driver Alex Albion will be appearing from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday at the Hialeah Home Depot at 950 SE 12th St., where U.S. 27 becomes Okeechobee Road off State Rd. 112.
The overall event starts at 11 a.m. The first 200 fans to buy batteries (Duracell is a Williams sponsor) will get priority viewing for a Q&A with Albion and the day’s three fastest times on a simulator will get a meet-and-greet with him. There also will be Williams merchandise, some autographed, given away as prizes.
This story was originally published April 28, 2026 at 8:48 PM.
