In Miami Gardens you can see and be seen at Formula 1

Arie Luyendyk (69) follows the Grand Prix of Miami on Sunday at home in front of television in Arizona, USA. The former driver, who grew up in IndyCar, hopes for a victory from Max Verstappen (25) in the Formula 1 race on the street circuit around the Hard Rock Stadium. “Of course I’m going to look,” late The Flying Dutchman know from the United States. “I’m a big fan of Max.”

Luyendyk and Verstappen are two Dutch greats in the racing world. Both famous in the US, but in two different branches of motorsport. Luyendyk won the 1990 and 1997 Indy 500 at the famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The famous race is part of the IndyCar Series, which takes place on circuits, street courses and ovals is driven. Verstappen managed to win an American grand prix twice on the F1 circuits of Austin (2021) and Miami (2022). This Sunday, Verstappen will start the world championship standings at the 5.4-kilometer circuit in Miami Gardens.

The different the races, the different the crowd. The Indy 500 – a 200-lap race held every year at the end of May on the weekend of Memorial Day held over a distance of 500 miles (805 kilometers) – is experienced by spectators as a festival where entertainment and sports days go hand in hand. Fans sleep in RVs, barbecue in the parking lot, drink gallons of beer, and see the Indy 500 as an annual outing. The cheapest tickets for the race are standing places at 40 euros. “The paddock is open and fans can see the mechanics at work themselves. The atmosphere is very relaxed,” explains Luyendyk. “The crowd is a real part of IndyCar.”

The contrast with the ambiance of Formula 1 in Miami is great. No picnic from the car here. Those who want to gain access to the circuit in Miami Gardens on Sunday have to pay 700 euros for a grandstand ticket. Formula 1 in the US, even more than in Europe or Asia, is in practice mainly for the jet set. “Audience in the stands with milkshakes and expensive sunglasses. It is a completely different experience than the typical American Nascar or IndyCar,” explains Dutchman Robin Bilkert. As manager of GP Incentives and Grand Prix Ticketshop, he arranges trips in all shapes and sizes to the various grands prixs. “A ticket for the paddock in Miami costs 10,000 euros. Then there are the costs of a hotel and food. It is therefore full of all kinds of stars who want to see and be seen.”

Although Formula 1 is rapidly gaining popularity in the US, this season’s three races are still in the shadow of IndyCar. There is also only one American F1 driver, Logan Sargeant (Williams). The Indy 500 took place before it in 1911 and, with the Grand Prix of Monaco and the 24-hour race of Le Mans, is one of the Triple Crown of Motorsport. Luyendyk grew into a national hero in the US due to his two victories in Indianapolis and therefore has a completely different status than Verstappen, who triumphed in Monaco in 2021. Bilkert: “Luyendyk has become Americanized and was embraced by the people. Verstappen is much less popular in the US as a foreigner. You will see in Miami, for example, that many Latinos will cheer for his Mexican teammate Sergio Pérez.”

Talent and daring

Luyendyk can explain the difference between racing in Europe and the US like no other. Born as Arie Luyendijk in Sommelsdijk in South Holland, he grew up in the Dutch racing world with his father. As champion of the so-called Formula Super Vee, he entered Formula 3 together with Jan Lammers and Huub Rothengatter for Racing Team Holland in 1978. Luyendyk lacked the financial resources to really compete. Lammers and Rothengatter would later drive in Formula 1, Luyendyk sought his luck in the US.

There he ended up in a world in which talent and daring played a greater role than a sponsor with a large bag of money. “I got a new chance in America,” says Luyendyk. “If you could show that you could drive, then you had more options than in Europe. After one race I was already offered a seat, without having to pay any money for it. That’s how it all started for me in the eighties.”

According to Luyendyk, racing in the US itself is not much different from Europe, but the competition and opposition in the US is fiercer and bigger. In addition, the physical effort of an IndyCar race is enormous. Luyendyk grew into a racing legend on the world-famous oval, which consisted of 3.2 million cobblestones a hundred years ago. Not only by his victories, but also by setting a speed record of 382 kilometers per hour during the qualifications in 1996. That record still stands and is sharper than the highest top speed ever measured in a Formula 1 race. That is 372.5 kilometers per hour in the name of the Finnish driver Valtteri Botas, driven in 2016 at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City.

interfaces

IndyCar and Formula 1 also have common ground. In fact, Indianapolis is not only a serious part of IndyCar, but also belongs to Formula 1 history. In 1950, the oval track was one of seven circuits during the first season of Formula 1. Although the race was a standalone race at the time and almost only Americans participated. Winner Johnnie Parsons played no significant role on the six European circuits. Among the 34 world champions in Formula 1, only two Americans managed to rank themselves: Phil Hill in 1961 and Mario Andretti in 1978.

Indianapolis made a comeback in Formula 1 in the year 2000. With the construction of a special circuit in the inner area of ​​the oval the organization was able to unite the two racing cultures during the Grand Prix of the United States. However, it was not an unqualified success. The low point was the year 2005, when the Michelin tires turned out to be so unsuitable that only six cars appeared at the start. In 2007 Indianapolis disappeared from the Formula 1 calendar. The Indy 500 has always been a great success and will be held for the 107th time later this month. With Luyendyk as a race steward along the track.

Indianapolis’ Formula 1 failure symbolizes the love-hate relationship of Americans with the premier class of motorsport. In the search for the ideal American Formula 1 location, things have gone wrong more often in the past seven decades. Nevertheless, the American circuit of Watkins Glen was a success for a long time between 1961 and 1980. A fast and challenging circuit in upstate New York. But also dangerous. After a number of fatal accidents, the race was canceled. Las Vegas was on the calendar in 1981 and 1982 with a 75 lap race in the parking lot of Caesars Palace. A kind of kart circuit, according to many drivers unworthy of Formula 1. The Phoenix circuit (where the grand prix was held in 1989, 1990 and 1991) had a different problem. There the temperature rose so high that a large number of cars had to stop the battle because of the heat.

The negative sentiment has now turned. With Austin as a positive center. The Circuit of the Americas has enjoyed a prized status within Formula 1 since 2012, but the track with its iconic watchtower has gained competition. Since Liberty Media took control of Formula 1 in 2017, the specialist sport with a large British following has increasingly evolved into a show with a global audience. In that respect, the new street circuits in Miami and Las Vegas fit perfectly into the new concept.

The Miami circuit is slick, but it’s also a compromise. Where in Baku, Monaco and Singapore the race takes place in the center, the circus of Formula 1 does not go through Miami Beach’s world-famous Ocean Drive. The love for Formula 1 is simply not big enough among the inhabitants to close off the most beautiful part of the city. The drivers circle the home of the Miami Dolphins in nineteen corners; the field normally used for American football is now the paddock.

The elite will enjoy the fifth race of the Formula 1 season with champagne and lobster in a special way. Luyendyk still prefers to stick to IndyCar. Where drivers and fans mingle with a donut and a beer before and after the race.