Lawsuit Seeks to Stop Formula 1’s Miami Race Before It Starts

Weeks before the scheduled debut of Formula 1’s Miami race, local residents are suing to stop the event from happening.

Miami Gardens residents filed a lawsuit to cancel the much-anticipated race on the grounds that noise from the May 6-8 event will “cause severe disruption and physical harm to Miami Gardens residents.” 

The plaintiffs, led by former Miami-Dade County commissioner Betty Ferguson, drew on findings from an engineering firm that the race will produce noise levels up to 97 decibels, “similar to the sound levels produced by a chainsaw,” within a 2.5 mile radius.

• Lawyers for both event venue Hard Rock Stadium and Miami Gardens said the judge should not rule before the city decides if it will issue a special event permit.
• Miami-Dade circuit court judge Alan Fine echoed that sentiment, saying “Numerous courts before me have resisted the temptation to jump into something that hasn’t been issued yet. Shouldn’t I wait to see if the city manager issues the special events permit?”

Calls to Miami Garden officials from Front Office Sports were not immediately returned.

More Noise Coming

F1 is under contract to race in Miami Gardens for 10 consecutive years. In March, F1 confirmed reports from FOS by announcing that the racing series would come to Las Vegas on Thanksgiving weekend of 2023.

The two new U.S. races come on the heels of F1’s surge in popularity with an assist from the Netflix docuseries “Drive to Survive.” F1 reported a cumulative 1.5 billion viewers in 2021.