The closer field that has led to a Formula 1 championship battle this season and promises a strong 2025 has been described as “a dream come true” by the president of the Miami Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen’s dominance of the past two seasons has come under threat ever since Lando Norris won in Miami this year, with the McLaren driver closing the gap to the championship leader to 52 points heading into the final six rounds. With four races in a row on a more friendly timezone for the United States – including two races in America – Miami president Tyler Epp says the increased competition on track is helping the race establish itself further.
“It’s so great,” Epp told RACER. “It’s been a dream come true for us as we’re trying to build our business together, and I would say that with respect to what Red Bull and Max did in the past couple of years as well. There’s tremendous respect for that, and there’s historical significance.
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“So it’s not that we’re rooting against Max and Red Bull, but we love competition. We love the question of when people show up and come and sit in their seat, they’re not sure who’s going to win. And the value in that, especially from a younger, burgeoning fan base, is something that we’re hyper focused on.
“The power of the product is why we spend so much time developing that relationship with Formula 1 and the teams and making sure that we’re the place that they want to be and when they want to start their uber-competitive run, Zak [Brown, McLaren CEO] and Lando know they can always come back to Miami as their first one!
“And they’ve been a fantastic partner through this. I mean, we’ve leaned into kind of the McLaren story, because it was their first win here. We’ve got a McLaren grandstand that’s operating this year that sold really, really well. And it’s just exciting for us to try to put some authenticity into the fandom that’s growing in the United States.”
And Epp says the current form guide has led to a strong start to ticket sales for Miami after going live with its offering for 2025 last month, as it works alongside other events in the region.
“Everything’s tracking up. We feel really, really good about where we are. The buying cycle, from year one to now, going into year four, has been kind of all over the map. Early it was like a huge spike, right when we released tickets, and the last couple years, it’s been a little bit different. It’s ebbed and flowed through the holiday season, the start of pre-season testing, and then on to the F1 season, starting in spring.
“So we’re tracking that carefully and trying to make sure that we have a good feel for what the fan wants, because at the end of the end of the day, that’s what we’re targeting. But I would tell you that we’re very pleased with where we are. I think we’re getting a better understanding of what the value proposition is, and hopefully the pricing will reflect that as we continue to go on.
“But we speak consistently to our friends, not only in Austin and Vegas, but also in Montreal and Mexico, as we think about the North American market. But with with the series coming to North America here in the next couple of weeks, you’ve got Austin, Mexico, Vegas and Brazil, all in that same grouping. We carefully monitor what everybody’s sales look like, and try to stay ahead of it as best we can, but it’s been off to a great start.”