A pre-race ceremony in Miami today will see American rapper, LL Cool J introduce the drivers to the crowd.

The move follows the decision to have boxing announcer Michael Buffer introduce the drivers at the 2017 United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas, just months after Liberty Media bought the sport.

So well received was the ceremony that it was never tried again... until now.

At last week's Azerbaijan Grand Prix it was revealed that at certain races an extended ceremony would be held ahead of the national anthem which would be “used for the presentation of the drivers to the fans”.

It has now been confirmed that LL Cool J will introduce the drivers for today's race before singing the national anthem.

The drivers will be introduced in five groups of four:

Logan Sargeant, Nyck de Vries, Kevin Magnussen, Alexander Albon

Yuki Tsunoda, Zhou Guanyu, Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon

Valtteri Bottas, Oscar Piastri, Nico Hulkenberg, Lando Norris

Lance Stroll, George Russell, Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz

Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Sergio Perez, Max Verstappen

"Failure to comply with these procedures will be reported to the stewards," the drivers are warned.

The news of LL Cool J's recruitment comes at a time Pitpass has been pondering who might sing the anthem at the much-hyped Vegas event.

Though she is British, our money is on Adelle, though Beyonce is a possibility.

Check out our Sunday gallery from Miami here.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by trackrecords, 11/05/2023 1:01

"The list of singers doing Las Vegas residences makes interesting reading:

Van Morrison appears Sep 6, 2023 - Sep 9, 2023 Billy Idol appears Oct 20, 2023 - Oct 28, 2023
Adele appears Jun 16, 2023 - Nov 4, 2023 Katy Perry appears May 12, 2023 - Nov 4, 2023
Donny Osmond appears May 10, 2023 - Nov 11, 2023 Rod Stewart appears May 10, 2023 - Nov 22, 2023
Garth Brooks appears May 18, 2023 - Dec 16, 2023 Barry Manilow appears May 18, 2023 - Dec 9, 2023

A pity that Van Morrison wouldn't be there in late November. Billy Idol has almost become American.
Adele and Katy Perry will have left two weeks prior. I didn't realise that Donny Osmond still performed.
Oh, look who will already be occupying a suite over the race weekend and used to live in America..."

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2. Posted by elsiebc, 10/05/2023 21:08

"@Ed. Please have IT fix the interface so that I can click "positive" multiple times for VC10-1103's post. Thank you."

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3. Posted by VC10-1103, 08/05/2023 8:10

"It sums up how far F1 has fallen when F1"s very own 'A' list celebrity and 3 times World Champion Sir Jackie Stewart has to stand behind a barrier and gets stopped by security from approaching tennis champion to whom attending the race is just a photo op."

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4. Posted by Editor, 08/05/2023 6:30

"@ Kenji

The 'singer' Gale is actually Puerto Rican, which gives credence to our prediction of Adelle belting out the anthem in Vegas."

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5. Posted by kenji, 08/05/2023 4:08

"Why do all the US vocalists insist on murdering their respective anthem? A simple render of the original would suffice but really....it's hard to stomach the wailing/wavering off key notes!"

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6. Posted by Defiant, 07/05/2023 21:22

"Groan....."

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7. Posted by KKK, 07/05/2023 17:35

"Not F1, just cheap tat"

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8. Posted by estoril85, 07/05/2023 16:32

""Though she is British, our money is on Adelle, though Beyonce is a possibility"

Katy Perry has a residency in vegas, sing the anthem wearing an F1 car hat or some other silly outfit maybe???"

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9. Posted by Superbird70, 07/05/2023 16:25

"@Celtic Tiger- For that we would need Mazepin. 'I will crush you.'
"

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10. Posted by Celtic Tiger, 07/05/2023 14:38

"When someone likened F1 to a circus, somewhere down the line Liberty took that term at face value. I suppose the drivers aren't too far off from individually entering their cars on the grid in the style of Apollo Creed in Rocky IV.

What next? will team principles have to run to the crowd every time a fastest lap is posted to fire t-shirts into the crowd via air guns?"

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11. Posted by Anthony, 07/05/2023 14:06

"Who said it couldn’t get worse……"

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F1 prepares to ramp up the cringe factor... again

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