The Miami Grand Prix is one of the newer events on the F1 calendar. If you’re heading there for the first time, this article provides a full guide for getting to the Miami Grand Prix location.
It includes everything you need to know about travel and transport to the Miami F1 race, including info on driving, rideshares, Brightline train service, nearest airports and more.
Contents
Where is the Miami F1 track?
The Miami F1 track is located in Miami Gardens in Miami-Dade county in Florida, on the east coast of the United States. The official name for the circuit is the Miami International Autodrome.
It’s 25 minutes south of Fort Lauderdale and 30 minutes north of South Beach, one of the most famous parts of Miami. It’s also about 25 minutes inland away from the coast, with the nearest beach being Golden Beach.
The full address for the Miami F1 track is:
Miami International Autodrome, Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida 33056, United States.
Which stadium is inside the Miami Grand Prix track?
The Miami Grand Prix track is actually built in the parking lots surrounding the Hard Rock Stadium, home of the Miami Dolphins NFL team. The street circuit weaves its way around the stadium which is actually on the inside of the circuit.
See my article on the Miami F1 track layout for more information on the circuit itself and the construction of the Miami Grand Prix location in the parking lots surrounding the stadium.
Miami GP tickets
Still need tickets for the Miami Grand Prix?
I’d recommend buying tickets through StubHub where you can sometimes find them cheaper than list price, plus lots of single-day ticket options.
I’ve bought F1 tickets on StubHub numerous times over the previous year, including when I went to the Vegas Grand Prix. I’ve always had great experiences and will definitely be using them again this year.
Their FanProtect guarantee keeps your tickets and money protected, and gave me a lot of confidence when buying.
Getting to the Miami Grand Prix location
There’s a few ways you can get to the Miami F1 race:
- Drive and park – sometimes includes complimentary shuttle
- Rental cars
- Rideshare service – includes complimentary shuttle
- Brightline train service – includes complimentary shuttle
- Walk!
Drive and park
To drive and park at the Miami F1 race you can either use one of the 28 (expensive) official parking lots or find a cheaper unofficial lot in the residential streets near the circuit.
Some of the official parking lots are so far away from the circuit that they include a complimentary shuttle bus service.
I’ve written a full guide to the Miami GP parking situation as there’s a lot of info so it needed its own article.
If you are driving be mindful of the road closures surrounding the circuit at peak times. Information on these can be found on the Miami F1 website here, nearer the date of the GP, and the details for the 2023 event are in the image below.
The Miami Grand Prix is located right next to the Florida Turnpike toll road. Check out the live traffic updates here for the Turnpike on race weekend. If you click the map view and select the pins next to the circuit you can actually see a live webcam view of the traffic and lane closures.
Rental cars
If you’re flying in to an airport and renting a car in Florida to get to the Miami GP, here’s a few tips to help you out.
Use a comparison site – Use comparison sites like Kayak or Priceline to get the best deal.
Prepare for extra charges – The price you see online is unlikely to be what you’ll pay. When I booked a car online for collection at Orlando I ended up paying an additional $120 when I picked up my car in taxes and other ‘standard’ fees and costs.
Beware toll road charges – Florida has a large network of tollroads, including the Florida Turnpike and other ‘SunPass’ tolls. Rental car companies (especially those in Orlando) will offer you an option to pay an extorniate daily rate (sometimes up to $20/day) to allow you to go on the toll roads.
You’ll be charged that rate whether you use a toll or not. There’s a list of major rental car company toll fees here.
I chose to decline to pay the daily rate at the rental desk (and risked a $30 penalty charge per toll I used) when I rented a car from Orlando Airport. Instead I set Google Maps to avoid toll roads and made sure I didn’t use any of the ‘express lanes’ on the freeways.
During a 5-day trip around Florida and Miami I racked up close to 1000 miles in a rental and didn’t go on a toll once, thanks to Google Maps. I probably added only an extra couple of hours to my total journey time.
There is now a Visitor Toll Pass that you can get at Orlando airport that gives you cheap access to all of Florida’s tolls and means you can happily decline the rental companies’ toll charges.
Credit cards – Most Florida rental car companies require a credit card to hold the deposit, and it has to be in the name of the main driver. If not you’ll either have to pay expensive daily ‘credit’ insurance (around $25/day) to use a debit card, or pay extra to have the credit card holder added to the rental as a second driver.
Rideshare
Rideshare services such as Uber and Lyft can be used to get to the Miami Grand Prix location, however you’re encouraged to go to an off-site parking lot for both drop-off and collection. See full details on my Miami F1 parking guide for more info on these lots.
If you do use a rideshare service bear in mind that surge pricing will make it incredibly expensive at peak times across the weekend, plus you could have a seriously long wait when it’s busy.
Brightline train service
The Brightline high speed train service runs along the west coast of Florida. It has stations in West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Aventura and Miami Central. It’s planning a future expansion to include stations in Orlando and Tampa. Orlando should be ready for the 2024 race.
For the Miami F1 event there will be shuttle buses running from the Aventura Brightline station to the Miami Grand Prix location. The shuttles will drop off and pick up in parking lots 15 and 16 which are around a 0.4 mile walk from entrance gate 3 at the circuit.
Tickets can be booked in advance on their website. Look for the ones labelled ‘The Big Race’ over the F1 weekend for train times which align with the complimentary shuttle services.
If you can easily access the West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale or Miami Central Brightline stations then this is a great option, especially with the complimentary shuttle.
The journey times from each of the Brightline stations to Aventura where the shuttle buses are located are as follows:
- West Palm Beach > Aventura: 56 mins
- Boca Raton > Aventura: 32 mins
- For Lauderdale > Aventura: 14 mins
- Miami Central > Aventura: 17 mins
The shuttle ride from Aventura to parking lots 15 & 16 should be around 30 minutes on race day, allowing for a bit of traffic. The timetable for the shuttles at the 2023 race can be found on the Brightline website here, and can be seen below.
Check out the Miami F1 schedule to see what time things are happening at the circuit, and work backwards to plan your journey times.
Brightline train tickets start from about $50 per person for a return trip from the closer stations.
Walk
If you’re fortunate enough to be local to the circuit then walking or riding (and locking your bike up outside) to the nearest entrance gate is by far the best option.
You’re restricted on how much stuff you can bring in to the circuit anway (see my Miami F1 campus pass guide for more info) so it’s unlikely you’ll need to be carrying too many things.
Nearest airport to the Miami Grand Prix location
Miami International Airport (MIA)
The nearest major airport to the Miami Grand Prix circuit is Miami International Airport (MIA). Most large international destinations will have direct flights to Miami International.
MIA is almost directly south of the Miami Grand Prix location. It’s around 30 minutes away by car.
There’s over a dozen different rental car providers based at Miami International Airport. Your best way to get a cheap deal is to use one of the comparison sites such as Kayak or Booking.com and get the rental booked well in advance.
The Brightline Miami Central station is around 15 minutes away from the airport. Brightline offer shuttles (at an additional cost) to take you between the airport and the station. More information on their mobility page here.
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International (FLL)
Another airport near the Miami F1 is Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International (FLL). This is smaller than MIA but still classed as an international airport, however it’s less likely you’ll find direct flights from major international destinations. This is a great option for any US domestic flights.
It’s actually closer than MIA to the Miami F1 track, being less than a 20 minute drive away.
Fort Lauderdale Executive - Private Airport (FXE)
The nearest private airport to the Miami F1 circuit is Fort Lauderdale Executive (FXE). At less than 30 minutes’ drive away from the Miami F1 circuit this is the best option for those looking to fly in to Miami via private jet for the F1.
There are a number of FBOs at FXE who offer transfers directly to the track, such as Banyan Air Service.
Orlando (MCO)
Another option is Orlando (MCO) airport. This is a big international airport that’s very busy as it’s right next to Disneyland. But it has a huge number of flight options and I’ve found it to be a lot cheaper than flying directly into Miami in the past.
To get from here to the Miami GP you need to drive, so you’ll have to rent a car. There’s a number of big rental car providers within the aiport itself. If you do drive you can get to the Miami GP circuit within about 3 hours on a great run, but usually a bit longer thanks to traffic.
You can avoid tolls from MCO to the Miami GP by using the I95 South that goes down the West Coast. This is about 45 minutes longer than the toll route.
Can you visit the Miami Grand Prix circuit?
During the Formula 1 race weekend in early May, to visit the Miami F1 circuit you need to have purchased campus pass, grandstand seat or hospitality tickets to get in to the venue.
On all other weekends the circuit won’t be in action and will be in partially-built state as it’s only erected for the F1 event. The Hard Rock Stadium will still be holding events throughout the year, including numerous NFL games and the Miami Open tennis tournament.
I tried going for a look around the circuit in July but there was no public entry allowed to the grounds of the Hard Rock Stadium.
