Miami Grand Prix race executive Tom Garfinkel has confessed that the generally successful and celebrity-filled inaugural race suffered financial losses.
Garfinkel claims that the losses incurred from the F1 race were more than expected, despite the fact that he does not regret spending so much money to promote the new street event which will now be featuring in the F1 calendar.
“If you’d asked me six months ago, I would have expected the event to make money given how revenue has been going,” Garfinkel, who is also the boss of the Miami Dolphins and the Hard Rock Stadium, told Sky Deutschland.
“But if you look at expenses, we’re not going to make any money this year.”
He concedes the loss is a setback, but insists it won’t compromise Miami’s new spot on the Formula 1 calendar, with the event signing a ten-year deal with F1.
“It was very important to us to offer a great event,” Garfinkel said justifying extravagant expenditures such as the much-maligned ‘artificial harbour’.
“The costs far exceeded our expectations, but that was because we did everything we could to develop the Formula 1 brand and the type of event that we wanted to represent.”
The event was totally sold out for the three days, therefore Garfinkel hopes to increase the maximum circuit capacity from 87,500 to at least 100,000 in the future.
He is also dealing with the criticism from F1 drivers who complained about the quality of the circuit layout, particularly the tarmac surface, which Lando Norris refered to as “crap.”
“There are a lot of things we can learn from and do better,” Garfinkel acknowledged the drivers complaints.
“But there are also some things that went really well. The feedback has been very positive from the teams, the drivers, Formula 1 and the FIA.”
