Tom Garfinkle: It’s almost Disneyland here.

This weekend the Miami Grand Prix will be held for the first time in the American state of Florida on a new circuit built around the sports and entertainment complex Hard Rock Stadium.

Tom Garfinkle, head of the complex and also director of the Miami Grand Prix, spoke about the challenges that had to be overcome to make this project a reality. Besides, he was once vice president of Chip Ganassi Racing and was responsible for the work of teams competing in championships like NASCAR, IndyCar and Grand-Am, so he knows first hand about the “kitchen” of motorsport.

“This process started in 2017. I spoke with Chase Carey and Sean Bratches (they were Formula 1 president and commercial director at the time), and we explored the possibility of hosting a race in downtown Miami, Garfinkle said in an interview with the official website of the championship. “But in reality, there turned out to be too many factors that stand in the way of building a good city circuit, where interesting races would take place.

The streets of the city center do not allow to build a circuit where there would be a lot of overtaking opportunities … In addition, this would introduce the difficulties associated with keeping the race the work of the port could hinder and other enterprises.

We had to spend some time studying the options, and we came to the conclusion that the track could be built here, around the stadium in the Miami Gardens area. I invited Chase Carey here, we walked him around the stadium. I placed the cones, marking the circle of the future track, and from the top of the stadium we could see where it was going.

I shared my thoughts, told what we could build here. By then, early 2019, we had already hosted the Miami Open tennis tournament and Chase could see that we were capable of solving unique problems. A little more time was spent on planning and budgeting and when this work was already coming to an end, the pandemic started, forcing the project to be postponed for another year.

When Stefano Domenicali took over Formula 1, he set to work with determination and together we were able to reach agreements very quickly on which both sides agreed.

My job was to present the big picture and especially to sign a contract with Formula 1. After that I hired a staff and took over overall management of the project.

An important part of my career has been related to motorsport and I understand that Formula 1 is a special kind of racing. These riders, the teams, the technology, the level of competition – I’m especially happy that here in the US we can introduce all this to new fans.

Of course Liberty Media has done a great job while holding this championship and the sport is growing globally. It is a great honor for us to host the Formula 1 round in Miami and we will also contribute to the common goal. I think the most important thing is that we are waiting for a great race. We managed to organize this Grand Prix, which means that my dream has come true!

What we did here is almost Disneyland, there are so many opportunities to spend time with friends, enjoy music, drinks and everything. And at the same time, the best motorsport competitions in the world take place here. I think if you tell people about racing, give them the opportunity to come here, they will become fans very quickly and fall in love with Formula 1.”