{"id":256898,"date":"2026-05-03T19:44:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T19:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/256898\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T19:44:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T19:44:14","slug":"miami-gp-avoids-rain-but-not-smaller-crowd-at-fifth-running","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/256898\/","title":{"rendered":"Miami GP avoids rain but not smaller crowd at fifth running"},"content":{"rendered":"

MIAMI GARDENS \u2014 The most highly-anticipated Formula 1 race of the season \u2014 the Miami Grand Prix<\/a> \u2014 delivered the expected and unexpected on Sunday from the Miami International Autodrome at Hard Rock Stadium.<\/p>\n

Both featured a degree of drama.<\/p>\n

In the expected, Mercedes\u2019 Kimi Antonelli<\/a>, the 19-year-old pole-sitter, took the checkered flag for his third consecutive win of the season, continuing Mercedes\u2019 domination.<\/p>\n

In the unexpected, it didn\u2019t rain, which was a great relief to all. The threat of rain and lightning moved the start time up three hours<\/a> to 1 p.m. from the scheduled 4 p.m.<\/p>\n

Anecdotally, the Miami Grand Prix<\/a> had its biggest Friday attendance of the past three years, its lowest Saturday attendance of the past three years for reasons no one could figure out, and perhaps half as many Sunday fans as expected due to the threat of inclement weather, though the race was sold out in advance.<\/p>\n

But in a major victory, traffic flowed much better every day this year than previous years. Perhaps that bodes well for the World Cup in about a month.<\/p>\n

And most importantly, Miami Grand Prix fans, who were relatively subdued Sunday, were happy.<\/p>\n

Luis Toro, a 29-year-old Venezuelan, attended his fourth Miami Grand Prix on Sunday. His friend, Jesus Mateo, a 41-year-old Miami resident, attended his first.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Toro, who has attended F1 races in Austin and Italy, is impressed by the Miami Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt actually has been improving,\u201d he said. \u201cLast year, I came only for the races and I was like, \u2018I should have come for the whole event.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone was relieved the anticipated rains never came during Sunday\u2019s F1 race.<\/p>\n

But the weather still had an influence on the day.<\/p>\n

The Porsche Cup race was canceled to move up F1 start time, and the McLaren Trophy race was canceled due to early-morning rains.<\/p>\n

A couple of things made this race highly anticipated.<\/p>\n

This was the first F1 race since Suzuka (Japan) on March 29, which was won by Antonelli, the championship leader and the season\u2019s dominant team entering the Miami Grand Prix. The past two scheduled events, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, were canceled due to the Iran war. And the Miami Grand Prix was run with both the 2026 F1 rule changes and amendments to those changes.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear if weather affected the star power.<\/p>\n

Among the stars at the race were soccer icon Lionel Messi of InterMiami, Bam Adebayo of the Miami Heat, former tennis superstar Rafael Nadal, entertainer Jimmy Fallon, golfer Jon Rahm and influencer\/social media star Alix Earle.<\/p>\n

Kimi Antonelli wins the Miami Grand Prix for his third straight F1 victory<\/a><\/p>\n

Weather extremes and attendance swings were undeniably part of the story at the Miami Grand Prix this year.<\/p>\n

On Friday, there were an unusually high number of heat-related issues. Fortunately for fans, Friday marked the debut of the passenger buses stationed around the campus that serve as a \u201cCool Down Zone\u201d came in handy. Fans could simply go into the bus, relax while sitting in the air conditioning, and hydrate.<\/p>\n

The \u201cCool Down Zone\u201d was among numerous tweaks and changes at the Miami Grand Prix campus.<\/p>\n

For example, the Lighthouse Lounge, located between Turns 6 and 8, was among the most exciting new areas because it\u2019s accessible to anyone and provides great views during the races. Previously, this area was reserved for high rollers. It\u2019s where the yachts parked on the fake water.<\/p>\n

Sight lines were improved in a few areas and public viewing areas added in others. There was now a Turn 10 viewing area where fans can get pretty close to the track and experience the deafening sound and body-tingling sensation of cars zooming by at more than 100 miles per hour.<\/p>\n

The growth and reach of the Miami Grand Prix and F1 racing was never more apparent than Friday, when the place was packed.<\/p>\n

\"KimiKimi Antonelli lifts the trophy on the podium after winning the F1 Grand Prix of Miami at Miami International Autodrome on Sunday in Miami Gardens. (Photo by Peter Fox\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Friday crowd seemed to check more boxes than ever. More Black fans than the previous two years. More older fans (Miami Grand Prix\u2019s Friday crowds have skewed younger recently). More fans wearing F1 gear.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Marshna Spavento of Naples and Dana Harris of Pompano, a pair of Black women, had similar observations. And more.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see more women,\u201d Spavento said, adding she\u2019d like to see more F1 merchandise made for women.<\/p>\n

Spavento and Harris are big-time Miami Grand Prix fans. They\u2019ve been to all five. Spavento\u2019s husband introduced them to the sport around 2020.<\/p>\n

And they\u2019ve done the Miami Grand Prix many ways. Campus pass. Yacht Club. Podium Club. Stadium Club. They\u2019ve enjoyed each experience.<\/p>\n

Earlier Friday, there was a true testament to the reach of the Miami Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn our way to our seats we saw a bachelorette party,\u201d Harris said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd they were sistahs!\u201d Spavento added.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the Miami Grand Prix and F1 are still attracting new fans.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jeff Giaimo traveled with his son, Ami Strickland, from Deltona, to attend Sunday\u2019s race as a high school graduation present. They got to parking lot No. 34 at 6:30 a.m. to see the day\u2019s rain-altered events.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m soaked,\u201d Giaimo said around 10 a.m., when the rain had stopped for a while.<\/p>\n

They were both wearing plastic rain slickers. Strickland, a Ferrari fan, just started following F1 this year and this is their first Miami Grand Prix. <\/p>\n

In another sign of wide-ranging reach, this time in the community, the F1 Miami Grand Prix Helmet Program matched five artists with STEAM programs (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) from local schools to create a racing helmet. The helmets were displayed on the Miami Grand Prix campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means a lot to me,\u201d Carol City senior Lanyla Conley said of the helmet. \u201cIt\u2019s like I feel important. I feel like I\u2019ve accomplished something.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Miami Grand Prix organizers, who thrived despite the threat of rain and, anecdotally, lower attendance, could say the same thing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI GARDENS \u2014 The most highly-anticipated Formula 1 race of the season \u2014 the Miami Grand Prix \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256899,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111574,123,108650,125,124],"class_list":["post-256898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-f1-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-grand-prix","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}