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Insider tips and tricks to maximize your F1 experience at the Miami and Emilia Romagna (Imola) Grand Prix races.
Watch the full session
About the panel
AdamR46: Founder of Grand Prix Travel, the #1 community on Reddit and FanAmp for Formula 1 fans enjoying races around the world
F1Destinations: The guru for Grand Prix travel guides, tickets, and tips with over a decade of industry expertise
🐦Twitter
Join_FanAmp: Greg is the Founder of FanAmp, the app connecting Formula 1 fans to the communities, live conversations, news, and more that maximize their F1 experiences
🟠Reach out on FanAmp
ZoeyERacing: An American racing driver who brings a wide range of experience having competed in F4, EXR, the Saleen Cup, Stadium Super Trucks, and more
What to Know Before You Go
[00:00:00] AdamR46: Hey guys, what's going on? This isAdamR46. I am the founder and moderator of r/GrandPrixTravel and this is our new episode of Know Before You Go. Today we're going to cover Miami and Imola. I've been to Miami, I have not been to Imola, but we have some people who have been, and I'm familiar with the area. I've been to MotoGP out in Misano a couple times, and it's a great place of Italy to visit. It's known as Motor Valley, which is the home of Ferrari, Ducati, Lamborghini, Pagani. It's pretty incredible out there.
In Miami, well, it's Miami. It's a party and lots of sports, lots of things to do, lots of good food, beach vibes. It's got everything. Joining us today, we got Greg with FanAmp. Greg, you wanna say anything?
[00:00:53] Join_FanAmp: [laughs] Yeah. I guess you did the intro for me, so there we go. Yeah.
[00:00:57] AdamR46: We've got Andrew with F1Destinations…
[00:01:01] F1Destinations: Hi everyone.
[00:00:57] AdamR46: …and we’ve got Zoey.
[00:01:04] ZoeyERacing: Hi guys.
[00:01:07] AdamR46: All right. So let's get right into it. Miami GP, Andrew, what's your take on attending the GP just in a general sense? Is it something you want to travel to, is it something meant for locals? I feel like it's a real destination race.
[00:01:24] F1Destinations: I think it's definitely a destination race. The kind of race here you go to build it around a one- or two-week holiday, maybe some beach time. Lots to see and do in the area. But it's also very much one of the more expensive races to attend on the calendar. All the US races are now right up there in terms of cost for race tickets, accommodation, et cetera. But I think it'll be a lot better this year. There's a school of thought don't go to the first edition of any new event because it will be poorly organized.
I think it would be unfair to say Miami was poorly organized. There were a few pockets of poor organization last year, but also a lot of things went really well for the first year. So I think they've learned a lot and will improve the fan experience this year.
[00:02:20] AdamR46: My take on it was I went as a, just a general fan. I bought a three-day ticket for the turn 18 grandstand. And from my point of view, everything was incredibly organized. The stuff I was reading did not match what I was experiencing because I felt it wasn't crowded. I think that the high ticket prices kept the audience at a manageable capacity. Also, the stadium is used to hosting NFL crowds, which are just massive. And they're efficient at managing the flow of traffic both in and out. The crowds into the grandstands, it was easy to go down and grab a beer or food. Lines weren't too bad, and I just think that from the fan perspective, I have a great time. Zoey, what about you?
[00:03:11] ZoeyERacing: I think internally it was more chaotic being in the paddock. A lot of drivers and teams were pissed because there was the celebrity garage, so cameras everywhere and it was hard to get from one side of the paddock to the other and it was so small. So everything was so congested. I think that's where a lot of hate about the Miami GP came from. And the routes that they had people walking from the F1 paddock suites, they had it called something different that weekend. Someone else took over, there was no Paddock Club, I don't think, unless it was above the actual paddock.
[00:03:51] AdamR46: There was a Paddock Club, but we could talk about what happened there.
[00:03:52] F1Destinations: [laughs].
[00:03:55] ZoeyERacing: Yeah, it was bought out by somebody. It wasn't like normal, I don’t think.
[00:03:59] AdamR46: It was just run by a different catering organization to normally. So it was a Paddock Club, but normally it's an Austrian company called Do & Co, that run the Paddock Club to a very high standard. And Miami organizers said, “No, we can do it ourselves.”
[00:04:17] ZoeyERacing: Yeah. So we didn't do the paddock tours for them. We just did it for, I think it was F1 Experiences had it.
[00:04:23] F1Destinations: I think you were doing it for maybe the Champions Club, which was on the other side of the stadium.
[00:04:29] ZoeyERacing: That's what it was, yeah. We had to walk people down the spiral. It was just like a spiral, I don't even know what it was. It wasn't like a walk, it was just a walkway, I guess. So internally, I think there was a lot of miscommunication and the security people were not knowing fully what was going on, but I think that happens at every first event. And I heard all good things about the fan stuff outside of the actual paddock, so…
[00:05:00] F1Destinations: Yeah. I could give you a bit more insight into the Paddock Club because I've worked in the Paddock Club, one of the suites with F1 Experiences. We had a hundred guests only, but through the whole weekend, we just have random people that were not supposed to be even in the paddock club just wandering in and eating and drinking. They weren't coming into our suite because we were checking credentials and saying, “Sorry you can't be in here. But I don’t know if you noticed, Zoey, that halfway down the paddock, there was an exit, the turnstiles for exiting the paddock, and at every other race, a meter away, you would have a second set of turnstiles to enter the paddock club.
There was no second set of turnstiles. So if someone had a paddock pass, which doesn't grant you get in the paddock, but there's no food and drink, there's no spectating, people were just coming out of the paddock and straight into the paddock club and just going and getting food and drink [laughs].
[00:06:00] ZoeyERacing: Yeah. I remember it was pure chaos.
[00:06:02] F1Destinations: It was crazy, yeah.
[00:06:04] AdamR46: Okay. So the stadium's located in Miami Gardens, which is technically not Miami and I guess not really Fort Lauderdale. It's in the middle or about the same distance from both airports. The circuit itself is semi-temporary. There's some parts that are paved through the demolished tennis courts and some, what is like public roads or service roads around the stadium. So it is a weird hybrid of permanent facility, but it’s temporary in some places. So it's just a unique circuit, which they are supposed to repave this year, and hopefully that makes a big difference on the type of racing that we get.
I think the two major airports are gonna be Miami International and Fort Lauderdale. And Miami will probably have the majority of the international flights, and Fort Lauderdale I've noticed has more domestic flights. But they both get I guess both types of flights, but I feel like Fort Lauderdale might be cheaper to fly into if you're coming from America versus coming from overseas, you're probably gonna wanna fly into Miami International because there'll just be more availability, cheaper tickets. How do you guys get to the circuit each day?
[00:07:35] F1Destinations: Zoey, you can go first?
[00:07:36] AdamR46: Yeah, sure.
[00:07:38] ZoeyERacing: Well, I would say that Fort Lauderdale is definitely an easier airport to fly into. Miami was horrible, it was so crowded. Miami in general without an event going on is just crowded. So Fort Lauderdale, if you can get a flight into there, living in, I live in Arizona, so…
[00:08:01] AdamR46: Audio froze a bit.
[00:08:03] ZoeyERacing: So by our [inaudible] and I would say getting there in the morning is better, you can explore around. They have water stations and stuff, so if you bring a temporary or a refillable water bottle, getting there and being there all day, I feel like there's a bunch of stuff to do. They have so many things out there as well, like event stuff that you can do. They have giveaways and stuff, so being there all day I think is worth it to beat the traffic. I don't know what it was like in the afternoon or the times, but in the morning, not bad traffic, easy in and out.
[00:08:43] F1Destinations: I flew into Miami International. I think I flew with Lufthansa, and I hired a car and drove for the first time in the USA…
[Laughter]
[00:08:54] F1Destinations: …which was somewhat a baptism of fire [laughs].
[00:08:55] Join_FanAmp: Not hired, you rented it.
[00:08:59] F1Destinations: One thing I would point out, I thought the car rental pickup-drop off location at Miami Airport was awesome. It was huge, it was really well organized. Quick to both pick up and drop off the cars and really efficient, getting out onto those six lane highways, having to drive was a bit of a shock. Also, I did get ripped off at the airport with a SIM card because I was about to hire a car. I needed a local internet to be able to navigate, and it didn't seem like there was any T-Mobile shops or anything like that. I had to pay, I think it was a hundred dollars or something for a local SIM card, but it was either that or not know where I was going to go.
[00:09:49] AdamR46: My experience, actually, I book out myself with points and I shop around a lot. So I flew into Miami International, rented a car, and then when I flew back to Austin, I flew out of Fort Lauderdale. So I got to experience a little bit of both where flying into Miami wasn't too bad. I don't remember what day I flew. I think I flew in Friday morning. I skipped Friday at the circuit. I flew into Miami Friday morning and they have the Metro or Miami mover that'll take you to that rental car facility. It was really easy. And I'm used to driving in America, so getting on highways wasn't too bad for me.
Overall, I had a pretty good experience. I was staying in Wynwood, and so Wynwood is a, I don't know, like a up and coming arts district with a lot of good local food. So I wanted to stay somewhere that's walking distance. It was my first time in Miami, so it was just something new and my wife wasn't going to the race, she just wanted to hang out, so I wanted to find somewhere where there's things to do that are walkable and things like that. And then flying out of Fort Lauderdale was pretty easy.
We ended up going to the beach in I think the Hollywood area while we were killing time. We had a couple hours between checking out of our Airbnb before we had to get to the airport, and dropped off the rentals. So we just, I think we got lunch and just hung out by the beach and then flew out of Fort Lauderdale. I felt like security wasn't too bad and drop off for the rental was similar to Miami, where I believe they had a whole rental car facility and then you just catch a shuttle to the terminal. We flew out on Monday and I was surprised how easy it was, but maybe that's just a Fort Lauderdale airport thing.
[00:11:36] Join_FanAmp: Even for other big events, Miami seems to handle it really well. I think the thing is what do you want me doing outside of the race, if anything, because that's gonna determine how much traffic you wanna sit in, and how far you wanna drive. A lot of people talk about going to South Beach, but you've got to weigh all of the traffic getting out there, all of the traffic getting off the island if you're coming back at the wrong hour. So I feel like Fort Lauderdale is super convenient, or downtown Brickell might be another good option for nicer hotels without having to deal with all the inconvenience.
[00:12:08] AdamR46: I guess you've been in Miami a couple times, Greg?
[00:12:13] Join_FanAmp: Yeah.
[00:12:14] AdamR46: What's your favorite things to do in the afternoon? Once I'm done with the race day, where do I go?
[00:12:22] Join_FanAmp: [laughs] Some of it I probably can't put out here. No, I’m kidding. I think it really depends. Like I do love South Beach. If you're at a nice hotel, I think it's definitely really worth it being over there because while it is more expensive, they really are well taken care of, the beach is really nice. So I think being in that area, it's very lively at night. There's a lot of, sort of the major restaurants that you have in all other parts of the world tend to open up another annex in Miami, so you have really good food, great nightlife. That's a great area.
And then you hit on Wynwood, I think Wynwood's awesome. A lot of, mostly all outdoor bars, there's breweries, there's a taco shop with a secret club in the back, or not so secret. So there's plenty of stuff to do. I really don't think you can go wrong in Miami. It's just a question of do you wanna wander off the beaten path or do you wanna stay in one of these bigger areas that's a lot more commercialized and maybe a little bit more expensive than, I don't know what the average person's budget might be.
[00:13:19] AdamR46: Zoey, what about you, where do you like to stay when you go to Miami?
[00:13:23] ZoeyERacing: I stayed near the Aventura Mall and I think it was perfect because we were far enough away, so restaurants weren't too crowded around us. And being able to just walk in the mall, you can grab coffee in the morning really quick. I loved staying in that area. We also went to the South Beach area at night and I think everywhere around there if you wanted to go out at night, was reserved for some F1 after party. So if you want to go out after and you have like, say you've been to Miami before and there's a club that you like, it was almost 99 percent that it was rented out by some event and you have to get tickets.
And all tickets were sold out too. So I would prepare for the nightlife if that's what you're into. I remember it was a struggle. The whole team wanted to go out and we didn't think ahead and that was definitely everything was booked.
[00:14:22] Join_FanAmp: That's a great point, because I think, so one of the places that typically has stuff is LIV, for example, in the Fontainebleau and like I think tickets are maybe $300 GA, but you'll have like Calvin Harris or David Guetta, so if you want to go to that, it's probably on the highest end. And then you have maybe something like story, which is typically open later, but I think tickets are usually a little bit cheaper. But yeah, definitely by now if you're looking to go.
[00:14:45] ZoeyERacing: Yeah, you can't wait till the last minute on those. It was crazy. I was not prepared at all for that. I don't know why I didn't think of that, but that was one thing I wish we all would've been more prepared for.
[00:14:57] AdamR46: So in Wynwood, my experience was, we went out to a brewery, J Wakefield, and I had some really high ABV stouts that, that's just what I'm into. So we got a little tipsy and then we walked around. Red Bull had an event that was like a market setup with a bunch of different vendors, and they had DJs doing sets. They had a few bars spread out, but the whole area is surrounded by just restaurants, bars, and just all kinds of different things to do. So getting there was just entertaining. There's people everywhere. It was like midnight and the event itself, it seemed like it was winding down around that time.
I guess everybody was off in the bars and stuff, but there was still a good little crowd hovering around the DJ and dancing and lights everywhere. And I took a bunch of funny pictures with my wife. They had a bunch of different setups, props and things like that that you don't normally see unless you really go out to some clubs and things like that. But yeah, we had a good time in Wynwood and it was fun. I didn't have to have any reservations or tickets for some of that stuff. I just kept an eye out on social media for where some of the free events were.
So Miami I feel like has a good range of things to do, where you can do stuff for free that's still F1 related, because there's free events throughout the city. They host live watch parties and things like that for practice qualifying. And then at the end of the day, they turn into clubs essentially, and it was just an open area, you just walk right in, and it was cool. I had a good time.
[00:16:45] F1Destinations: There was a big festival at South Beach last year, wasn't there? FTX sponsored it off the grid, I think.
[00:16:51] AdamR46: Yeah. I'm guessing, I think that was with Mercedes. And then McLaren also had a building they rented out and they had a bunch of cars on display, sold merch, and they had watch parties and things like that. Which that one you did have to get tickets for, it was free, but you just had to basically do one of those free RSVP things and you were on their list to be able to access it.
[00:17:11] F1Destinations: I'm just wondering if this year with the whole cryptocurrency wealth having dropped so much in the past 12 months, whether some of the high-end places won't be quite so buzzing or people throwing so much money around.
[00:17:28] AdamR46: Yeah, walking around Wynwood, I felt like every five cars I saw, one was Lamborghini. It was insane the money down there. It was like Monaco. It was like, it really surprised me.
[00:17:42] Join_FanAmp: That's also great South Florida though. That is so Miami in a nutshell. Anywhere you are, whatever you're doing, so maybe a little bit quieter, but I don't think it's gonna be that much different. That's also what makes it such a great place. I think the vibe generally speaking, is much more of a party atmosphere. So if you want something where you don't leave the track and the town's asleep, like the place is just waking up, it's actually a great place to be.
[00:18:06] AdamR46: Yeah.
[00:18:08] F1Destinations: Anecdotally, I've heard the tickets have not been selling as fast as last year for the Miami Grand Prix. Maybe obviously that's a good thing if you're looking to go this year and you haven't got tickets yet, because I think there's still a fairly good range of tickets available at different price points.
[00:18:26] AdamR46: Yeah. So the other thing I've been wondering, is they haven't showed their parking or transit situation that they have coordinating. I know last year there was some lots that were scattered around the stadium property through neighborhoods. I ended up getting a free parking pass emailed to me, but I bought three tickets for turn 18 and they just emailed me whenever they announced the parking that, “Hey, here's a parking pass.” So I don't have to pay for it. I don't know how much it cost for other people, but I parked in, I believe it was like lot 30 or 31, right along the canal that runs on the north side of the stadium.
Greg, do you wanna pull up the photo of the parking map? Getting to that area, I took the turnpike, and like I said, I was there in 30 minutes maybe. And the parking lot itself, yeah, I was parked in lot 30. The entrance was along that main road where all those parking, the pink parkings are situated. From there it was about a 10 minute walk to the gate. I was right along, I guess the north side of the stadium at turn 18.
Overall, I had a great experience. I was able to get in and out of there really fast and easy. I know some people didn't have that experience [laughs], but I think they might have been parking on the opposite side, or they took the shuttles and public transport out there to the circuit. Because I know that there's two different options for rideshare. There was either remote drop-off or a walking distance drop-off. And the remote drop-off was, I believe Greg, you had that highlighted here.
[00:20:13] Join_FanAmp: Yeah, it's a lot, lot further out.
[00:20:15] AdamR46: I'm pointing it. Or you were getting dropped off by Uber and then catching a shuttle for about 20, 25 minutes depending on the location. I heard that the wait for the shuttles got hectic for some people, but I feel like they probably saved a decent amount on Uber, or at least it's more catered to locals who have a better option of driving because parking around the circuit. If you don't have a parking pass, I think it's all residential neighborhoods, so I think it's a decent option, but probably not plannable unless you get with the local. But a lot of houses around the area let you park in their grass or their driveway for like $20 to $40 depending on the people there. But I saw a lot of people offering that.
[00:21:01] Join_FanAmp: Yeah, they’re used to that. Sorry to interrupt. They're used to that because of the football games, right? You might even be able to go a day early and scope it out if you're there and see what you can get.
[00:21:12] AdamR46: Yeah.
[00:21:14] Join_FanAmp: Because the alternative for this, is you're either gonna take the shuttle, or if you're willing to see how traffic is, you can get within half a mile to a mile walking distance away from the track and they actually let you do drop off and pick up at either of these spots. One of the things that we've done in the past, like when we've gone with groups, is you could talk to the cab driver and say, “Look, this is gonna be the time,” and you can arrange a price off the meter so to speak, and that might be a good option for guaranteeing a ride back if you set something up.
[00:21:48] AdamR46: Yeah. And I think that they're going to officially announce the parking or the transit system that they have, I think early next month. So it could be next week or the week after.
[00:22:03] Join_FanAmp: It should be early April, I think, is the last thing we heard from the organizers.
[00:22:08] AdamR46: Yeah. What about hotels, or where did you guys stay? Andrew or Zoey?
[00:22:15] F1Destinations: I stayed in Fort Lauderdale, and the name of the hotel escaped me. I think it was an American chain hotel. It was pretty good. I enjoyed staying in Fort Lauderdale. Yeah, okay, it wasn’t South Beach, but it was long, hot days at the truck. And we had places to go out for dinner without reservations within walking distance of the hotel. I was gonna ask something, is it worth mentioning at all, especially in terms of where to stay, but also general weekend experience about personal safety and places where you shouldn't go in Miami because they're a bit sketchy or dangerous, or that side of things. Because you do, you know, the city does have a little bit of a reputation as that it has not always been the safest place.
[00:23:06] AdamR46: I was about to ask if you felt safe walking around your hotel where you were staying.
[00:23:11] F1Destinations: In Fort Lauderdale, I did, yeah. I don't know if Zoey had a different experience.
[00:23:17] ZoeyERacing: Yeah. I don't remember the name of the hotel, but by the Aventura Mall, it was super easy to walk around. I didn't feel like I was in danger at all. I just walked from the hotel to the mall, which it was literally through the parking lot, and we usually ate in that mall. It's like a big shopping center, so I had no problems. Also, the area that I was in, it seems like it was super easy to get anywhere. We had no problems with Ubers or rides or anything, not traffic around that area in general. So I had no problems where I was staying.
[00:23:59] AdamR46: And when would… one of the things that I pay attention to when I'm traveling is, is there women and children about? Then if there is then it's probably safe. Especially if they don't look like tourists. There's sometimes like I've been in Mexico where you, Mexico City, you walk down a road and it seems empty, but then the one right next to it is super populated. I'm gonna stick to the one that's more populated. I think if you just follow that general sense of self-awareness, it can help ease back a little bit at least my anxiety.
Things like that, if you're in Florida and you're… if it's night and you're walking around by yourself or maybe with a partner. If you don't see people around, I don't think it's a bad idea to make sure, don't just be locked in your phone navigating. Have your partner scoping things out and just keeping self-awareness. But overall, I felt safe in Wynwood.
[00:24:56] ZoeyERacing: Yeah. I think that was another thing, is I was also in a group and we were all wearing the same T-shirt. So I don't think anyone would wanna mess with us anyway. But yeah, I think just being with people in general is gonna be your best bet.
[00:25:11] Join_FanAmp: Wynwood might be the one neighborhood I think of all them we've mentioned, that that'd be the one to be on that like, well at street, versus wandering one or two off that area.
[00:25:23] AdamR46: Yeah. Some restaurants seem like they're in alleys where it seems a little weird walking down, but I think it's just an older neighborhood where it's just the way that the roads are situated. Overall, it didn't feel too bad because I did see crowds of people where it's a little group of five or six people that are migrating from a bar to a club or a restaurant to a bar. And so it didn't feel isolated or like, I didn't feel like an open target, if that makes sense.
[00:25:53] Join_FanAmp: Should we touch on the seating as well and give an overview of that?
[00:25:56] AdamR46: Yeah. So I sat at turn 18, which is coming off the back straight. The AutoNation grant stand, I was right in the middle of that. The way that the track is situated, it's separated into different, they call it a campus. So you have the turn 18 area that, right behind the grand standards, a bunch of tents with food vendors and beer, water, a bunch of different popups and some tents that looks semi-permanent. I think it might be, it didn't feel like a parking lot because they had like AstroTurf and so I think that really helped keep, I guess it didn't feel so hot.
I mean, it did, but I feel like that definitely helped if I was standing on pavement in a blacktop parking lot, it would've been completely different. And then just behind that you've got The Marina area, which is also, each area has its own amenities where you don't have to walk super far, unless there's something you actually really do wanna see. Like I walked over to The Marina and I got to see the whole fake water situation they had, and I took some pictures because they're just hilarious [laughs]. And then as you leave that area, go back to the stadium, you got the fountains, which is where they actually have the podium ceremony.
So the podium ceremony isn't on the main straight at this circuit, it's in the back of the stadium along this fountains area, which there's mostly a lot of hospitality. There's some standing areas, but it's really hard to see. The podium's elevated, but there's just so many trees and it is hard to find a line of sight where you can actually see anything as far as the podium. I scoped it out on Saturday and then on Sunday I went over there after the race ended and it was a little trek, probably about 10 or 15 minutes. It wasn't too bad, but I got there right around the time that they were spraying champagne. And it was cool to be there, but it was more hearing and watching a screen versus being there because you couldn't see.
And it takes away from the experience when there's a bunch of stuff blocking your view. So that's where, I don't know if it's actually worth going over there for some people. At least post-race, you might just want to beat some traffic or just hang out either way, because I'm pretty sure there's probably music and stuff going on too.
[00:28:30] F1Destinations: Adam, did you go up onto the actual stadium and have a look at any of the…
[00:28:34] AdamR46
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