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.
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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.
Qualifying lap times are 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.
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 1:29.708 set by Max Verstappen driving his Red Bull RB19 during the 2023 race.
Max’s lap record was set on lap 56 of the grand prix, one 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 Lance Stroll, Nico Hulkenberg and Lando Norris.
The fastest overall lap time set at the Miami Grand Prix weekend is 1:26.814 set by Max Verstappen during the Q2 qualifying session in 2023. Max went fastest in Q2 and DNF’d in Q3, and the pole position time was actually slower than his Q2 time.
Verstappen’s Q2 time is almost 3 seconds faster than the official race lap record.
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 135mph / 217kph. This is based on Max Verstappen’s 2023 race lap record time.
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.
