Boats of the 2023 Miami F1 Grand Prix

The event’s organisers hyped up the Miamarina display by announcing there would be actual water in the area, even if it was confined to two small pools on one side of the plastic water used to float the display boats.

This year’s display was paired down compared with last year’s event but featured a very US line-up of boats. A boat share company used the site to display pair of Barton and Gray Daychaser 48s alongside three Hinkley Talaria 44s.

The boats were all part of Barton and Gray's hire fleet. Access to the boats was limited to the boat share club’s members for prices believed to have ranged up to about $US67,000 ($A100,000) for a cabana with space for up to 15 people.

This year’s paired-down display is very different to last year’s, which featured 10 motor yachts on show.

F1 fans responded to the hyped-up claims that the landlocked marina would use real water for the first time by posting a number of memes poking fun at the news.

The Miami F1 race is held in the car park of the Hard Rock Stadium, the home field of the  Miami Dolphins National Football League team.

The stadium is about 12km inland from Miami’s famous northern beaches and canals, although a drainage canal does run along one side of the venue.

The annual Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, held each year just to the north of the F1 circuit, is often described as one of the best boating showcases in the world.

Other circuits have also featured water, including the Canadian GP (the circuit is built over an island in Montreal’s St Lawrence River), the Marina Bay street circuit of the Singapore GP, Yas Marina in the UAE and the Russian GP at Sochi on the shores of the Black Sea.

Historical F1 races to feature water in close proximity include the street circuit at Detroit, Shanghai (the city is cross-crossed with drainage canals), and Valencia in Spain.

One more race to feature water prominently is the Australian Grand Prix, which winds around Melbourne’s Albert Park Lake. The shallow lake was originally built to drain the swamps that once dominated the area but hosts a yacht club that regularly races off-the-beach dinghies, including over the grand prix weekend.