F1 signs 10-year extension with Miami Grand Prix that keeps race on calendar through 2041

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Formula 1 announced a 10-year extension with the Miami Grand Prix on Friday that will ensure the event remains on the calendar through 2041.

“From our standpoint, it enables us to say that this event is here to stay for a very long time,” said Tom Garfinkel, managing partner of the Miami Grand Prix. “Securing a 10-year extension with Formula 1 through 2041 is an extraordinary milestone for all of us at South Florida Motorsports and a true testament to the hard work of our team, the strength of our partnerships, the support of our community and the growth of the sport in the United States."

The race debuted in 2022 as the second F1 race in the United States on the schedule. Sunday's running will be the fourth in what was originally a 10-year contract between Miami promoters and F1.

There are now three F1 races in the U.S. every year. Las Vegas was added to the schedule in 2023 and F1 also makes a stop at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

F1 president Stefano Domenicali stressed how vital Miami is to the series' portfolio as it continues to grow dramatically in the U.S.

“In just three years, the Miami Grand Prix has established itself as one of the most important and spectacular events on our calendar, an extraordinary example of quality and vision that truly represents the spirit and ambition of Formula 1 in the United States," Domenicali said. “Extending this agreement until 2041 is a strategic milestone of enormous importance, which strengthens our presence in America and consolidates the ever-deepening bond with our fan base there, which is constantly growing and passionate like never before.”

The Miami extension comes two days after F1 announced a three-year extension with Mexico City. The difference, though, is that Mexico City in the final year of its existing contract.

The Miami race, meanwhile, was touted as a key event in F1's focus on North American growth, as well as the impact the race has on South Florida. The Miami Grand Prix has generated more than $1 billion in economic impact in its first three runnings.

South Florida Motorsports, the official promoter, has established internship programs, worked with local charities, and promoted home-grown businesses each year to build a community relationship around the grand prix. South Florida Motorsports was named 2024 F1 “Promoter of the Year.”

Promoters claim a record 275,000 spectators attended three days of activities last year and the race attracted the largest U.S. F1 television audience of all time, with 3.1 million viewers.

The Miami Grand Prix is held around Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, home of the Miami Dolphins, the ATP and WTA Miami Open, and seven matches at next year’s soccer World Cup.

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc of Monaco, right, kicks a ball as he tries out kicking football field goals with Miami Dolphins linebackers Jaelan Phillips (15) and Quinton Bell (56), during a joint event ahead of the Formula One Miami Grand Prix auto race, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Mercedes driver George Russell, center, of Britain, answers a question as Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton. left, also of Britain and Kick Sauber driver Nico Hulkenberg, right, of Germany, listen during a news conference ahead of the Formula One Miami Grand Prix auto race, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Aaron Mart, 4, and his sister Eloise, 2, whose father is an engineer for the Red Bull team, have their photo taken by their mother Anne Bachelay in front of a Formula One Miami Grand Prix auto race logo in the shape of the track, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Nicaragua’s Interior Ministry said Saturday the country would release dozens of prisoners, as the United States ramped up pressure on leftist President Daniel Ortegaa week after it ousted former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

On Friday, the U.S. Embassy in Nicaragua said Venezuela had taken an important step toward peace by releasing what it described as “political prisoners.” But it lamented that in Nicaragua, “more than 60 people remain unjustly detained or disappeared, including pastors, religious workers, the sick, and the elderly.”

On Saturday, the Interior Ministry said in a statement that “dozens of people who were in the National Penitentiary System are returning to their homes and families.”

It wasn’t immediately clear who was freed and under what conditions. Nicaragua’s government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The government has been carrying out an ongoing crackdown since mass social protests in 2018, that were violently repressed.

Nicaragua’s government has imprisoned adversaries, religious leaders, journalists and more, then exiled them, stripping hundreds of their Nicaraguan citizenship and possessions. Since 2018, it has shuttered more than 5,000 organizations, largely religious, and forced thousands to flee the country. Nicaragua’s government often accused critics and opponents of plotting against the government.

In recent years, the government has released hundreds of imprisoned political opponents, critics and activists. It stripped them of Nicaraguan citizenship and sent them to other countries like the U.S. and Guatemala. Observers have called it an effort to wash its hands of its opposition and offset international human rights criticism. Many of those Nicaraguans were forced into a situation of "statelessness."

Saturday on X, the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs again slammed Nicaragua’s government. “Nicaraguans voted for a president in 2006, not for an illegitimate lifelong dynasty,” it said. “Rewriting the Constitution and crushing dissent will not erase the Nicaraguans’ aspirations to live free from tyranny.”

Danny Ramírez-Ayérdiz, executive-secretary of the Nicaraguan human rights organization CADILH, said he had mixed feelings about the releases announced Saturday.

“On the one hand, I’m glad. All political prisoners suffer some form of torture. But on the other hand, I know these people will continue to be harassed, surveilled and monitored by the police, and so will their families.”

Ramírez-Ayérdiz said the liberation of the prisoners is a response to pressure exerted by the United States. “There is surely a great deal of fear within the regime that the U.S. might completely dismantle it,” he said.

FILE - Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega waves after attending the swearing-in ceremony of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro for a third term at the National Assembly in Caracas, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)