Miami Gardens (CBSMIAMI)— It is the week of the Miami Grand Prix, and Hard Rock Stadium has totally transformed for the event.
Fans will soon pack the stands for the first-ever Formula 1 race there.
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“Miami is is leading the way in terms of the approach,” says Miami Grand Prix CEO Richard Cregan. “I think it’s going to be a very different race. We put entertainment very high on the list.”
He says this undertaking was a unique challenge, since it was not a street track, like other F1 races.
“It’s effectively a permanent track that we use once a year, which nobody’s ever done before,” Cregan noted. “It’s been designed and built from zero.”
There were eight “zones” built, where people can watch the race.
One of those is Hard Rock Beach Club, which includes two real pools and actual sand.
Cabanas surround the pool deck with a stage, where artists like Post Malone, Tiesto, and The Chainsmokers are scheduled to perform.
There is also the Marina area, with a yacht club created for the event. On one side, guests overlook the track, on the other, several actual yachts tower over the space.
”It’s whimsical isn’t it? It’s something that creates the notion of Miami,” says Clive Bowen of Apex Circuit Design. “You’re giving people something they’re going to talk about for years to come.”
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Yachts at the man-made marina for the F1 Miami Grand Prix. (CBS News Miami)
He says designing the track was like a “complex Rubik’s cube,” since they had to strategically work around football games, concerts, and the Miami Open.
They say they wanted to create a high class experience to accompany the high class cars. They created an area called luxury row, complete with merchandise from Shops at Bal Harbour.
The construction took a little less than a year, but Dolphins CEO Tom Garfinkel says it was a vision almost four years in the making.
“A lot of the things you see out here I drew on my white board first, before they became real,” he says.
While it is an event with a global audience, he says he wanted to make sure they gave back to the community. He says they did that through hiring local workers, bringing in Miami Gardens restaurants, and partnering with schools for STEM projects.
“We want this to be a local thing and a community effort,” he says. “And impact people’s lives here and South Florida in a positive way.”
The organizers say everything will be back to normal in time for football season.
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The track is a permanent fixture, which may be used for future races or parking for other events. The rest of the infrastructure will be removed completely and put into storage. They say it will take almost two months to break it all down.
