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F1: Miami gets last laugh with fake Marina – Free Media Coverage

Posted by AR1 staff

Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix  around Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, it certainly has the potential to live up to the hype — especially if the racing is good.

Miami organizers originally hoped for a waterfront venue with a circuit in the downtown area and over a bridge to the Port of Miami, as the Miami Herald reported last month. But when that plan didn’t work out and the race ended up being around Hard Rock Stadium, there was still an attempt at creating a waterfront atmosphere.

A Monaco-inspired faux marina “Yacht Club” has been constructed — complete with about a dozen dry-docked yachts — on the infield of turns 6, 7 and 8. Some race patrons paid $38,000 for a four-person “Yacht Club” package, $19,000 for a two-person pass and $9,500 for a single.

The discovery of the fake marina then led to this funny bit from Sky Sports’ Craig Slater, pointing out the absurdity of the situation and hilariously “swimming” in the “water.”

Joking that the “sea breeze is in my hair” — the venue is about 10 miles away from the Atlantic Ocean — Slater said: “It’s such a hot day today, I think I might take a jump into the cool… water.”

His bit about “enhanced reality” — welcomed by many F1 fans with more jokes — then continued as he attempted a little backstroke on the flat, waterless ground.

So no matter how real the fake marina will look on TV, just remember, it’s not.

But for Miami GP managing partner Tom Garfinkel, who is vice chairman and CEO of the Miami Dolphins and Hard Rock Stadium, fans poking fun at what the track has done with the marina is not a worry at all.

Speaking to Motorsport.com, Garfinkel said: “I think we don’t take ourselves too seriously. We’re having some fun with it, right?

“I think people are enjoying it. I think the people on the back of those yachts watching the race will have fun, and I think the people that are sort of poking fun at it, I think it’s funny, and it’s great.

“We’re not taking ourselves too seriously. We’re trying to have some fun with it.”

“I think people are enjoying it. I think the people on the back of those yachts watching the race will have fun, and I think the people that are sort of poking fun at it, I think it’s funny, and it’s great.

“We’re not taking ourselves too seriously. We’re trying to have some fun with it.”

“First and foremost, the first priority was creating a great circuit for racing,” he said. “So we really believe that if it’s a circuit that drivers want to drive on, and teams want to come race on, then it’d be great for fans. So that was the first priority.

“Then after that, why not make it Miami? Why not bring a part of the culture of Miami out here to create great experiences for fans?

“If it’s a proper circuit for racing, first and foremost, then we can move on from that and do other things to make it great. So that’s really what we’re trying to accomplish.”