UK specialists Apex Circuit Design laid out the 5.41-kilometre anticlockwise circuit, which hosts its first Formula 1 Grand Prix next weekend, around the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.
Its most sinuous section is through Turns 13-16, which wind around the entrance and exit ramps and beneath the flyover sections of the Florida Turnpike, the main toll road between Miami and Orlando, and NW 203rd Street.
The track is expected to produce an average lap speed of just under 135mph, and this slow-speed section precedes a 1.28km, 320kph straight that leads towards the hairpin at Turn 17.
The approach to Turn 17 should be the track’s key overtaking opportunity and the compression effect of the Turn 13-16 sequence should ensure close running onto the back straight.
The FIA regulations regarding clearance of overhead structures to the track surface means the layout needs to dip beneath the two overpasses, shortly after rising 11 feet to cross the Southbound access ramp, creating a crest in the Turn 14-15 chicane that will severely punish any driving errors.
Miami track Turn 15 during build process
Photo by: Charles Bradley
“This whole sequence was a real engineering challenge,” said Apex project lead design engineer Andrew Wallis. “[Apex founder and director] Clive Bowen’s concept design required us to route the track through this zone and for us to get beneath the first overpass, we had to meet the FIA regulation that requires at least four metres of clearance, but as we have to tie into the levels of the Turnpike slip road that has a 7% crossfall, our track surface was climbing just at the point where we needed it to be falling.
“There is also an F1 regulation about the rate of change of elevation linked to the square of the speed of the car, so this design basically threads the needle in three dimensions to ensure that the cars go slowly enough to align with the camber of the crossing and then get back under the overpass.
“We’ve created this…
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