Formula 1 race week has become more than a major sporting event for South Florida. The Real Deal reports that developers and brokers used the 2026 Miami Grand Prix to connect with affluent visitors, host clients and place luxury residential projects directly in front of an international audience already drawn to Miami for the race.
Formula 1 Drivers Deepen Their Ties to Miami
The article opens with Sergio Perez, who returned to Miami while racing for Cadillac after leaving Red Bull in 2024. Perez had already established a real estate connection to the city, purchasing a four-bedroom, five-and-a-half-bathroom residence at the under-construction St. Regis Residences, Miami. Related Group is co-developing the bayfront project with Integra Investments.
Perez is part of a broader pattern of Formula 1 drivers entering Miami’s luxury condominium market. The Real Deal also points to Alpine driver Pierre Gasly, who signed a contract for a four-bedroom residence at Jean-Georges Miami Tropic Residences. The 3,712-square-foot condominium was priced at $4.9 million, or approximately $1,320 per square foot.
Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc had previously signed a contract to purchase at Edition Residences in Edgewater. The Real Deal notes that the project’s future remained on hold at the time of publication because of an ongoing dispute between the developer and holdout owners of the existing building. The article also notes that celebrity purchasers may receive credits or discounts in exchange for promotional value tied to their purchases.
Race Week Becomes a Luxury Real Estate Marketing Platform
The concentration of high-net-worth visitors during Grand Prix week gives Miami developers another opportunity to turn a global event into direct relationship-building. Rather than limiting activity to conventional sales presentations, projects and brokerages used hospitality and entertainment to engage prospects in the environment that brought them to the city.
DaGrosa Capital Development Partners, developer of Kempinski Residences Miami Design District, hosted guests at a private paddock club rooftop suite during the race. In Broward County, Circ Residences held a Cirque du Soleil event on the rooftop deck of its Hollywood development, while Douglas Elliman hosted clients in a suite overlooking the race’s start-finish line.
These activations reinforce the overlap between luxury real estate and the international lifestyle audience surrounding Formula 1. For residential developers, the Grand Prix creates a setting where prospective buyers can encounter a project through hospitality, access and personal relationships before or alongside a traditional property presentation.
Miami’s Global Events Extend the Real Estate Calendar
The Real Deal places Formula 1 within a larger calendar of major events that South Florida’s real estate industry uses to reach prospective buyers. The Miami Open, the upcoming FIFA World Cup and Art Basel Miami Beach are cited alongside the Grand Prix as moments when globally mobile visitors converge on the region and developers intensify their outreach.
Developer Steve Ross, who hosts the race at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, played a key role in bringing Formula 1 to Miami beginning in 2022. As the event has become established on the city’s calendar, its connection to luxury real estate has become increasingly visible through driver purchases, client hospitality and developer-led activations across South Florida.
For Miami’s luxury residential market, the 2026 race weekend illustrates how international events can create concentrated opportunities to introduce projects to buyers whose interests already span global travel, design, hospitality and high-end real estate. Kempinski’s presence within that race-week ecosystem places the project within the same international conversation shaping Miami’s next phase of luxury demand.
Read the original article: The Weekly Dirt: Formula 1 descends on Miami
