Miami is set to be the third shortest track that Formula E races on this season with Tokyo and London coming under the 2.32kms length of the Hard Rock track.
But curiously, such is the sinuous make-up of the ExCeL Arena track, the lap time is well over the minute mark. Berlin is the only track where we see sub one-minute laps, with last year’s pole time set by Pascal Wehrlein coming in at 57.805s.
Miami Hard Rock is set to see times around a similar mark, probably around the 55-57 second area, as the quick constant radius corners in the opening sector give an initial flow to the track which is similar as the Evo Sessions configuration used last March.
On that occasion Stoffel Vandoorne set a best lap of 1m06.864s in his Maserati MSG that he then handed over to actress and custom car nut, Emelia Hartford, who did a very fine job in her stints at the wheel.
But there are some changes to the Evo Sessions track. These come with a shorter back straight and also cutting back earlier on to the start and finish straight, which is preceded by a tight hairpin. It is here where Nissan driver Norman Nato told Formula E Notebook that some spicy action might play out.
“I think in the hairpin it could be a bit of a mess at some points, which is an attacking area when the cars are packed, so it could also create some trouble,” said Nato.
“I’m pretty sure we will get a Full Course Yellow or Safety Car, so we have to be awake and on the good side of strategy.
“I think it’s going to be a very tight one in qualifying, in a way that the track is quite short, around 58 seconds.
“There’s no really challenging corners I would say, that doesn’t mean it’s an easy one, but it’s definitely not the most difficult one of the of the year,” added Nato.
“Overtaking opportunities don’t seem to be many, so I think qualifying would be slightly more important than race strategy, although it’s new for everyone, so we have to be quite open minded.”
Don’t expect a track that the drivers will wax lyrical about. The days of the mighty Rome EPrix track or the rollercoaster of Diriyah appear over for the time being. Gen4 might see a few interesting additions but this season with Sanya expected to be a truncated version of the largely forgettable 2019 circuit, the real testing tracks this season are likely to be Monaco and weirdly Jarama.
Weirdly because the track on the outskirts of the Spanish capital is so old school that its hard visualise Formula E being there. They key components will be a crowd, the correct positioning of a chicane and probably strong day for local dude Pepe Marti.
As it stands this weekend the first of those attributes above will be key to seeing if Miami Hard Rock will become a core fixture and a longstanding home for Formula E in the U.S. It already feels like the all-electric World Championships first real big test of 2026.
