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The Miami International Autodrome hosted its first ever motorsport events in 2022 – the Formula 1 race and two other support series. This article lists the Miami Grand Prix fastest lap, lap records and top speeds for the F1, W Series and the Porsche Carrera Cup North America series that have raced on the autodrome.
race laps or qualifying laps?
For a lap record to be officially recognised it has to have been set during a race. Lap times set during either free practice or qualifying sessions don’t count towards an official lap record.
However, qualifying lap times are almost always faster than lap records set during a race as the cars will be set up to be as fast as possible for qualifying. They’ll have minimum fuel, fresh tyres and their engine performance turned up to 110% to give them the maximum possible pace for just one lap.
During a race they’ll have more fuel, tyres that are older and have less grip and the engine power output will be slightly reduced to make sure it lasts the race distance.
In the sections below both the official lap record and the fastest overall lap time (likely to have been set during qualifying) will be listed so you can compare the difference.
Miami Grand Prix fastest lap - F1
The lap record for the F1 Miami Grand Prix is 1:31.361 set by Max Verstappen driving his Red Bull RB18 during the 2022 race.
Max’s lap record was set on lap 54 of the grand prix, three laps before the end of the 57 lap race. If we check out the list of each driver’s fastest lap from the race we can see that they all set their best lap time in the last few laps. The only exceptions were Lando Norris, Pierre Gasly and Zhou Guanyu who all retired before they got to lap 50.
With refuelling no longer allowed during an F1 race, each car has to carry enough fuel from the start of the race to last the entire distance. Sometimes the total weight of the fuel can be over 100kg. As the race progresses and the fuel burns off, the cars will get lighter. So it makes sense that we see the fastest laps at the end of the race, when the cars are at their lightest.
The fastest overall lap time set at the Miami Grand Prix weekend is 1:29.474 set by Charles Leclerc during the Q3 qualifying session in 2022. This lap time put him on pole position for the start of the race.
Leclerc’s qualifying lap was almost 2 seconds quicker than the race lap record. Both times were set with minimal fuel in the car, but Leclerc would have been on brand new sticky tyres and his engine output would have been cranked up to maximum.
Miami Grand Prix F1 top speed
The fastest speed achieved by an F1 car at the Miami Grand Prix is 214.7mph / 345.6kph. This was set by Kevin Magnussen driving a HAAS F1 car during the race.
This speed was registered at the official speed trap. The Miami Grand Prix layout map below shows that this is located at the end of the long straight between turns 16 and 17.
The map above also shows that the speed trap is located at the end of one of the Miami GP DRS zones. Thanks to the effect of the DRS plus slip streaming of other cars, the top speeds in the race are always likely to be higher than during qualifying.
DRS is still available during qualifying, but without the benefit of slipstreaming the same speeds aren’t reached. At the same point on the track, Charles Leclerc only reached 200mph / 323kph during qualifying with DRS activated.
Miami Grand Prix F1 average speed
The average speed for an F1 car around the Miami Grand Prix circuit is 136mph / 219kph. This is based on Charles Leclerc’s pole position lap time from the 2022 race.
If we use Max Verstappen’s race lap record, the average speed over a lap is reduced to 132mph / 213kph.
W Series Miami Grand Prix fastest lap
The W series lap record at the Miami Grand Prix circuit is 1:56.406 set by Abbi Pulling driving for the Racing X team. This was set during the second race of the weekend where conditions were more favourable to setting fast lap times.
The W series is a female-only championship that during 2022 supported 7 of the Formula 1 rounds. Unfortunately the last 3 rounds of the planned 10-round championship were cancelled due to a lack of funding. In 2023 the series will be replaced by the all-new F1 Academy, again a female-only race series.
Unusually, the lap record set by Abbi Pulling is also the Miami Grand Prix fastest lap time ever recorded for the W series. The best lap time set during qualifying was half a second slower than the lap record recorded during the race.
As the W series races are a lot shorter than the F1 races, tyre wear is much less of an issue. There’s no DRS in the W series but the slipstreaming makes a big difference. The three straights at the Miami GP circuit provide a great opportunity to shave some lap time off in the other car’s slipstream, which is why the race lap times were quicker than those in qualifying.
The W series cars all produce around 270bhp. The F1 cars in 2022 all had about 1000bhp, plus they generate a lot more downforce. The huge power difference and the additional downforce giving higher cornering speeds explains why the F1 cars are over 30 seconds faster around the Miami Grand Prix track than the W series cars.
Porsche Carrera Cup Miami GP fastest lap
The lap record for the Porsche Carrera Cup at the Miami Grand Prix circuit is 2:00.925 set by Sebastian Carazo driving a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Car, 992 model.
It’s usually the Porsche Supercup series that supports the F1 race events, but for 2022 the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America had the honour of racing on the Miami Grand Prix track during the F1 weekend. Over 30 drivers competed in two races and became one of only three series to drive on the Miami International Auto drome in its first year.
The overall Miami Grand Prix fastest lap time for the Porsche Carrera Cup North America is 2:00.876, also set by Sebastian Carazo but this time during the qualifying session.
The highest speed reached in the Porsche Carrera Cup series at the Miami GP circuit is 166mph / 267kph. This was reached at the same speed trap location between turns 16 and 17, and was set during qualifying.
