Miami GP boss says fans “more open” to F1 sprint format

Tyler Epp, who was promoted to the role after the first Miami GP in 2022 and previously worked in American motorsports with Chip Ganassi Racing, says the requirement to evolve the event as it prepares for its third race of a 10-year deal with F1 was also key to making the move.

Miami and China will join the sprint race roster of six events in 2024, with Baku and Spa-Francorchamps reverting to standard formats. The Austrian, United States, Brazilian and Qatar GPs will retain their sprint weekends.

“As Tom [Garfinkel, managing partner of the race and CEO of the Miami Dolphins NFL team and the Hard Rock Stadium] has been very clear about, year to year we need to evolve – we can’t be the same event every single season,” Epp told Autosport.

“We will continue to build the business up on great racing and a quality experience for the fans, as Stephen [Ross, the Dolphins’ owner] and Tom set out from the beginning.

“So, it was a combination of our relationship and partnership with F1, credit to them for being open to the discussion. We have a young lady on our team, named Katharina Nowak [senior director of business operations], who really brokered the deal with the team at F1.

“They deserve all the credit, and we’re excited because we think it’s a way to differentiate our race and gives our fanbase another way to view F1.

“We’ve been highly domestic over these last two years, in terms of our percentage basis, so I think we have some ‘new’ F1 fans – not all new – and they’re probably a bit more open to the non-traditional format than some of the purists.

“And we’ll do everything we can to ensure the purists have a wonderful experience too, but the new fans can also experience something different on Saturday.”

This year, United States Grand Prix promoter Bobby Epstein reported that ticket sales weren’t boosted when the COTA hosted a sprint race, but Epp said he was unconcerned as Miami has a different value proposition approach for its racegoers.

“We always want to see lift in all of our business units but that wasn’t the intent for our decision,” he said.

“The intent is to bring more value to the fanbase, to the people who come here. We’re not chasing a number of people on campus, we’re chasing the right number to allow the best experience for everyone who attends.

“But I don’t think we did…