Tyler Epp unique: SB Nation talks with the President of the F1 Miami Grand Prix

Think about, if you’ll, internet hosting a multi-day occasion that attracted lots of of 1000’s of sports activities followers from the world over, and included attendees from Ed Sheeran to, sure, a former President of the US of America who’s looking for that workplace but once more.

You may have simply described the Method 1 Miami Grand Prix, and you’ve got simply imagined being Tyler Epp.

Epp is the President of the Miami Grand Prix, which launched in 2022 because the second Method 1 race in the US on the yearly calendar, becoming a member of the US Grand Prix in Austin. With the addition of the Las Vegas Grand Prix final season, the US now has F1 races on the calendar every year, as the game continues to develop by leaps and bounds.

SB Nation talked completely with Epp concerning the Miami Grand Prix, what it takes to place collectively such a large occasion, how tough it’s to cater to such a diversified clientele, what the race promoters have deliberate for the long run, and even some ideas on how the dramatic 2024 season will conclude.

The expansion of the Miami Grand Prix

Our dialog started with a dialogue of the Miami Grand Prix, and the way the occasion has grown over its three years of existence. There have been actually some bumps alongside the way in which, and Epp addressed what the race promoters have discovered over now three years of the F1 race in Miami.

“Look, huge success, 12 months three,” started Epp.

“You already know, we talked to the promoters on the market earlier than we entered this. It was at all times ‘Yr One, the battle. Yr two, you’ll get higher. In 12 months three, you’ll lastly hit your stride.’ I feel to an extent we felt that manner. I feel we felt that we mounted lots of the challenges the primary two years and actually began to lean into the worth proposition for our followers.”

Epp then outlined how an occasion just like the Miami Grand Prix has a wide range of stakeholders, from the followers to the groups, and to the drivers themselves.

“We give it some thought very a lot as there’s six key stakeholders to us. It’s the FIA, it’s Method One, it’s the drivers, it’s the media, it’s our followers, and it’s our companions, and attempting to guarantee that we ship the outcomes for every of them is actually paramount to what we do right here,” continued Epp. “And I feel we we took one other constructive step because it pertains to success for these six teams.”

I then requested Epp about what he and the race promoters have discovered over three years of the Miami Grand Prix. He centered on how essential communication is when pulling off an occasion like this one, amongst all of the concerned events, from the groups, the game, and to the followers themselves.

“I feel, primary, it’s ensuring that we proceed to speak and align with the business, like together with Method One, the groups, the drivers, the completely different entities that actually make every considered one of these Grand Prix pull collectively.

“And I feel you’ll be able to solely do this by going via it.

“This isn’t one thing that I might have learn in a guide, like that is one thing you simply need to work via and construct these relationships. So I feel that’s primary.”

Epp then outlined how maybe the largest lesson they’ve discovered these previous few years is that the largest star of the Miami Grand Prix won’t be any of the drivers, the groups, or the celebrities that descend on Onerous Rock Stadium every Could.

It could be Miami itself.

“I feel quantity two, I feel we’ve discovered how essential Miami is to our model,” described Epp. “Steve [Ross] and Tom [Garfinkle] had been manner forward of this when it comes to speaking about this from the very starting. However Miami is a core a part of what we promised with an expertise, proper? The tradition, the artwork, the leisure, the meals and beverage, and then you definitely sprinkle on world-class racing on high of it. And that’s form of the magic that leads the Miami Grand Prix.”

Getting buy-in from the drivers, and the group

Photograph by Clive Mason/Getty Photos

For an occasion just like the Miami Grand Prix to succeed, and thrive, buy-in from concerned events is important.

Getting that buy-in for a Method 1 race can imply giving the drivers what they need — a difficult however truthful race observe — but additionally ensuring the members of the group, whose lives are upended for a while every Could, should buy in as nicely.

Our dialogue began with the drivers. Since its debut again in 2022, the racing circuit — and floor — in Miami has undergone some adjustments. That has seen the race rework into an occasion and circuit, the drivers have come to like.

“Yeah, it’s drivers, groups, it’s FIA, it’s Method 1. Once more, it’s all these completely different teams, [but] drivers for positive are gonna be probably the most vocal, proper? They’ve the most important platforms,” started Epp.

“We at all times joke about this, proper? Each driver who runs within the high three likes the observe so much. The blokes who’ve a problem or end within the backside, or the again of the pack have an issue.

“So we strive, to not be too reactionary primarily based on what occurs.

“However look what I might let you know is that we’re actually pleased with the work that our crew has performed to place collectively a world-class racing facility centered on the racing circuit itself,” continued Epp. “We’ve acquired an important partnership with of us at Tilke, and the FIA has been an important associate when it comes to not solely observe design however retaining us secure, and retaining our drivers secure.

“I feel that the racetrack presents a extremely differing expertise for the people who find themselves on it. We’ve acquired lengthy flowy turns, acquired a protracted straight, we’ve acquired some actually tight hairpin corners.

“And once more, the combination, we had been painstakingly detailed on via the repave in Yr Two to guarantee that the combination, the polymer, and the binder, and it was the right combination for this surroundings to not solely be actually nice for years, two and three, however on into years 4, 5, ten, 15 and 20.”

I then requested Epp about partnering with the group. On the morning of final Could’s Miami Grand Prix, I used to be in a position to spend a while with Tom Garfinkel, the CEO of the Miami Dolphins and the Managing Accomplice of the Miami Grand Prix, for a roundtable with choose media. That morning he talked about a few of the packages race promoters have carried out locally.

Epp went into some additional element, beginning with the first want: Authenticity.

“Properly, after we do it, it must be genuine, proper?

“And so I feel Tom stated it nicely. I feel the programming that we’ve constructed now with the native colleges and the scholars who’re engaged in our programming, we’ve acquired nice native companions who’ve actually taken this and run with it,” described Epp. “The chance to combine not solely with F1 in colleges, but additionally taking our personal programming into the colleges and displaying that the folks on this group, and most significantly, probably children on this group, what racing is, and it’s actually not simply concerning the folks sitting within the cockpit.”

A part of what the Miami Grand Prix is doing locally is exposing college students to alternatives and careers outdoors of the automobile itself.

“It’s additionally concerning the engineers and the mechanics. It’s additionally concerning the PR groups. It’s additionally concerning the advertising groups and the individuals who promote the tickets and the individuals who function concessions, and attempting to point out that the Grand Prix is not only concerning the guys within the automobiles,” continued Epp. “It’s additionally about a whole expertise.

Epp then talked to me concerning the MIA Academy, an 18-week paid internship program with the Miami Grand Prix that mixes work within the classroom, with work on the race itself. Alternatives run the gamut from hospitality, to meals and beverage service, via human sources, and every thing in between.

“I feel one factor we’re actually pleased with is we’re now coming into our fourth 12 months of what we name MIA Academy. And that is we’re taking younger folks from this group, from the native universities and schools, and really giving them a chance to have a task inside our Grand Pix,” stated Epp. “They begin this system in January, February yearly. They work with us all via the semester and work the race with us.

“I’ll let you know, Mark, by the point we get to the race, these folks have actual roles that we’re relying on.

“Within the myriad of like internships and the worth proposition amongst them, I feel the way in which that we offer curriculum for them to study concerning the enterprise, the power to use that curriculum to real-life experiences, after which community with folks throughout the business, I’m actually pleased with the crew and the way we completed that,” added Epp.

As well as, the alternatives lengthen past simply that preliminary internship. The Miami Grand Prix has employed individuals for full-time roles due to their expertise via the MIA Academy.

“The final level of that’s we’re hiring these folks,” continued Epp. “Now we have now over a half a dozen folks from the primary two or three years that at the moment are employed as a part of our full-time workers as a result of they excelled within the internship program. So it feeds proper straight again to what you’re speaking about. Not simply group buy-in from a public relations perspective, however actually really group buy-in impacting folks’s lives and giving them a future round motorsport.”

What it takes to tug off a Method 1 race

This 12 months’s Miami Grand Prix was my first F1 race expertise.

To say it was overwhelming was an understatement.

However my expertise was only a fraction of the complete puzzle that race promoters need to assemble every Could, and I used to be only one small phase of the numerous segments that Epp described race promoters need to attraction to when placing the Miami Grand Prix collectively.

Our dialogue turned to these numerous segments, and the way the Miami Grand Prix seems to fulfill the wants of every.

“I feel we have now, you realize, over 34 various kinds of merchandise right here and so they vary in every single place from an costly high-end paddock membership ticket to a a day by day campus cross, proper? {That a} household of 4 can come and be a part of us,” started Epp. “And I feel it’s a part of the, the magic of this proper, is that we have now the chance to take all people from all walks of life who’re centered across the expertise, proper?

“And for some folks that have actually focuses round race automobiles, proper? It focuses on their favourite driver, their favourite crew. For some folks, it focuses under no circumstances on the racing, it focuses on, ensuring that the best group is catering the house at their occasion, and ensuring that there’s the best issues to ‘gram a second.’ And there’s some folks which can be coming as a result of they need to see Ed Sheeran or they heard Jelly Roll was coming or whoever it could be.”

That’s when Epp dove into the thought of fan segmentation, one thing the Miami Grand Prix will likely be leaning into much more within the coming years.

“However these forms of the way in which we phase the fan base, we’ve taken straight from the work we do with the Miami Dolphins, and the way in which that they function their enterprise and the way in which they phase the fan expertise. We’re simply taking it a bit of bit extra broader and a bit of bit wider because it pertains to the motorsports enterprise,” described Epp. “However big credit score to Tom [Garfinkle] and Steve [Ross] for permitting us to construct off of the work that they’ve performed on that buyer segmentation with the Dolphins for now over a decade.”

After all, with a lot segmentation, there is a chance for some, let’s simply say confusion. Throughout final 12 months’s race, Darren Rovell shared a photograph of a few of the concession costs which touched off a fury on social media over what followers confronted on the race.

That picture didn’t define how the objects had been being offered for teams of 12 folks, however social media did what social media does.

I requested Epp about concession costs on the Miami Grand Prix, and the way that too is one other facet of the problem in placing on an occasion with such a various clientele.

“Yeah, if folks simply need to get a scorching canine and you realize, a beer. That’s one factor. If folks need a scorching canine with lobster on it, they will get that too. It’s again to the segmentation you simply requested about. Like, so there’s a, there’s completely a approach to have a really inexpensive expertise right here with high-value proposition that features generally priced concessions,” stated Epp. “There’s additionally the power to have a really luxurious expertise that has very excessive and never even concessions however meals and beverage companies which you can even upsell into, you realize, high-end bottles of wine and alcohol as it could be.

“So, for us, it’s once more, ensuring we perceive what the client needs.

“We now give it some thought a bit of bit extra in a different way after Darren’s tweet, proper? That how we put issues out on menu boards does matter,” continued Epp. “And ensuring that we all know if it’s a value for 12, it’s very clear that it’s a value for 12.”

The distinctiveness of the Miami Grand Prix

To maybe paraphrase George Orwell’s Animal Farm, all F1 races are distinctive, however some races are extra distinctive than others.

With its setting in and round Onerous Rock Stadium, the Miami Grand Prix is actually distinctive, and the race promoters have leaned into that facet of the occasion in methods they envisioned, and methods they didn’t count on.

One such facet of the race is the paddock, which is assembled on the sector at Onerous Rock Stadium:

Mark Schofield

As somebody who grew up watching Dan Marino play, it was one thing wonderful to stroll out onto the sector and see his title, and others, within the Dolphins’ Ring of HonorBut the setup of the paddock in Miami additionally presents followers in attendance an opportunity to look “behind the scenes” at F1, as they will congregate within the higher degree of the stadium and have a view into the paddock. One factor I discovered when down in Miami is that while you hear the followers roar contained in the stadium, you would possibly need to go searching to see who has arrived.

I requested Epp about that facet of the race, and if it was one thing they envisioned when designing the structure of the Miami Grand Prix.

“So [Formula 1 CEO] Stefano Domenico will get lots of credit score for the idea of the paddock within the stadium. From day one he and Tom actually wished to showcase the stadium as a part of the expertise.

“Now, one of many actual challenges of Method 1 normally, particularly because it grows in the US is entry, proper? Followers as we’ve gotten to know them actually via our lens right here in Miami, like they like entry, proper?

It’s nearly like this, that is the place the sausage is made,” stated Epp.

“Don’t simply have a look at the attractive race automobiles after which get out on the race circuit.”

“Stefan and Tom actually drove this as being inbuilt Yr Two, saying, ‘let’s use the stadium as the way in which to showcase the form of inside workings of the Method 1 sample.’ And in order that’s the, that’s, that’s what drove the idea.”

One other distinctive function of the Miami Grand Prix is one other offshoot of internet hosting the race round an NFL stadium. Every nook of Onerous Rock Stadium has a “helix,” a round ramp that enables followers to succeed in the higher deck after coming via the gates.

These helixes supply a few of the finest views of the race and may be accessed by ticket holders. For instance, right here is the view from the “northwest helix,” which is the place I ended up tenting out for the majority of the Miami Grand Prix itself. You see the tight Flip 17, which comes on the finish of the lengthy straight, after which Turns 18 and 19 earlier than drivers attain the beginning/end line.

Readers on Apple Information can click on this hyperlink to see the embedded publish from Threads.

Epp pointed to these helixes, together with the stadium itself and the views of the paddock, as one other distinctive function of the Miami Grand Prix.

“Now, I feel we began it by saying this could simply be a extremely cool approach to showcase the stadium mixed with Method 1,” stated Epp. “However we in a short time leaned into the truth that our campus cross viewing is most advantageous, the upper you get into the quadrants of the stadium and the helixes give us the most effective viewing level simply externally, not internally, proper?

“So impulsively you discover your most valued tickets have the power to not solely have the most effective views from the helix, however additionally they have the power to stroll throughout the breezeway and right into a view of the Method One paddock.”

Epp views this function as maybe probably the most “rewarding” of the complete setup in Miami.

“I can let you know strolling via the paddock on Saturday morning earlier than the dash race was beginning and also you see teams of followers who’re waving flags as a result of their drivers are strolling throughout, I can’t let you know how rewarding it’s,” stated Epp. “It’s not essentially something that was deliberate, however we actually hoped that we’d discover that form of engagement and provides individuals who perhaps don’t have the chance, must stroll via the Method 1 paddock, an precise view of what’s occurring inside.”

Nonetheless, regardless of a few of these nice views, there’s at the very least one one that doesn’t get to take pleasure in them in the course of the races.

Epp himself.

Of the numerous questions that readers on Threads submitted, one centered on simply how a lot of the race he will get to see.

Apparently, little or no, if in any respect.

“Oh, man. Virtually none,” stated Epp after I requested this query.

“About ten laps earlier than the tip of the race final 12 months, I went to seize my nine-year-old son as a result of I used to be gonna take him over so he might check out the rostrum, proper? So I grabbed him and I stated ‘[H]ey, Trey, it’s time to go. You gotta go proper now. Like we have now to go proper now.’

“He’s a giant Max Verstappen fan and he stated, ‘[n]o, no dad, Max is gonna lose.’ And so we’re strolling throughout and attempting to catch views of TV as we go by and positive sufficient, Lando [Norris] has this unimaginable efficiency with McLaren.

“My level is I noticed nothing, like I see no laps of the race. The best-rated dash race in America in historical past” continued Epp. “I noticed zero laps of it. However that’s okay. I get to journey the world. I get to see races everywhere in the world. I might a lot favor that our followers have an exquisite expertise whereas they’re right here watching the race, than permitting me to catch a pair laps.”

The 2024 F1 season, and why you need to go to the 2025 Miami Grand Prix

Photograph by Eva Marie Uzcategui/Anadolu through Getty Photos

Because the dialog wound down, I did need to get Epp’s ideas on the 2024 F1 season. Our dialog occurred simply earlier than the Singapore Grand Prix, which noticed Norris take his third victory of the season, and helped McLaren lengthen their lead within the Constructors’ Championship over Purple Bull.

So I requested, will McLaren maintain on? Will Norris maybe catch Verstappen, giving Epp’s son some extra heartache?

Epp turned his consideration to what this season means for the game on an even bigger scale.

“Properly, my son won’t ever be pleased until Max wins. He’s accustomed to Max at all times profitable, so he’s already upset,” joked Epp, earlier than turning severe.

“Right here’s what I might let you know about it. I feel that the competitors that we’re seeing is precisely the chance for the game to take the subsequent step and proceed to develop, particularly in the US,” continued Epp. “When you’ll be able to flip on the display early on Sunday morning and never know who’s going to win, and qualifying takes on a complete completely different worth proposition? F1 and the FIA get a ton of credit score for the way they constructed this collection this 12 months. The groups get a ton of credit score, the most effective drivers on the planet, all competing at a really excessive degree.

“Traditionally, you may have an important crew and their teammates compete.

[This year] we have now two, three, typically 4 groups, seven, eight, 9 drivers competing for the rostrum,” stated Epp. “It’s completely incredible racing.

“I’m not a lot of a prognosticator. We’re at all times supportive of competitors. Max has acquired a giant lead on the driving force’s facet, however I feel it’ll be actually fascinating to see, particularly because the collection comes again to North America.”

That speaks to the remainder of the 2024 season, however Epp and everybody else on the Miami Grand Prix have already got their sights on 2025. They’ve began rolling out tickets, in addition to some huge plans, for the fourth Miami Grand Prix. That features a specialised McLaren Grandstand, to honor Norris’ maiden victory, in addition to some adjustments to the circuit that may permit for various layouts, enabling the venue to host racing collection past Method 1.

The plans for 2025 get again to the “segmentation” mannequin Epp and I mentioned earlier in our dialog.

“It’s actually centered on evolution, not revolution,” stated Epp after I requested about their plans for 2025. “So big sweeping adjustments are hopefully not what you’re going to see heading into Yr 4. That’s actually not the plan. However I’ll say concerning McLaren, Lando [Norris] profitable the race, two days after the race, I used to be backwards and forwards with [McLaren CEO] Zak [Brown] through WhatsApp speaking about how we will work collectively for the 12 months, proper? You solely get one probability to do it your first time.

“And so, and Zak’s been incredible. McLaren’s been an exquisite associate for us. Placing that, that McLaren Grandstand program collectively out of the Marina Grandstand the place you’re permitting McLaren followers to return and sit collectively and root for the complete crew to be clear, not simply Lando,” continued Epp. “And in addition having a merchandising alternative via McLaren, like that’s been within the works now courting again to love, I suppose the third week of Could. And Zak was an enormous assist and his crew has been great about pushing it via.

“So, I feel it’s consultant of how we’re attacking or how we’re attempting to plan out how we work via the segmentation mannequin, proper? So folks wish to be round individuals who like the identical issues that they love to do,” described Epp. “And so placing the McLaren followers collectively, and so placing Ferrari followers collectively and Mercedes followers collectively, these are issues we’re speaking about continually, whether or not it’s manufacturers, whether or not it’s producers, whether or not it’s driver golf equipment. We’ve acquired integration going into all of these completely different areas, and we’ll continually be engaged on placing these packages collectively.”

One other change to the ticketing construction for subsequent season? A rotating ticket mannequin. Epp acknowledged that one other line of criticism levied on the Miami Grand Prix expertise was the truth that followers sat in the identical seat every day. They altered that for Grandstand tickets in 2024, and are increasing that to membership and luxurious tickets for 2025.

“So one of many criticisms that we’ve seen over time is, you pay no matter you pay for a three-day ticket, however you sit in the identical seat for all three days, proper? So this 12 months we constructed a Grandstand product that rotated the ticket each day to day,” outlined Epp. “We’re extending that this 12 months to our membership tickets and in addition to our luxurious tickets. I feel we’ve seen actually good suggestions on that simply because it differentiates the expertise. Particularly while you go to a Method 1 occasion the place you usually sit on a nook, or typically a straight, being able to go see the automobiles within the motion from a unique vantage level on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, we really feel there’s an actual benefit and an actual worth proposition to our clients.”

Nonetheless not satisfied {that a} journey to the Miami Grand Prix is for you?

Epp closed our dialog together with his elevator pitch to these followers who could be on the fence about subsequent 12 months’s race.

“So I pitched my 25-year-old self who spent, you realize, most of his early profession out and in of North American Motorsport,” started Epp. “And I might let you know that the rationale to return to Miami is since you get a crew of individuals right here who’re centered on you, your expertise, and bringing the artwork, the tradition, and the experiential nature of Miami to you surrounded by the most effective motor racing on the planet.”