Just five days after a memorable Italian Grand Prix, the Formula One circus moves to the new home of the Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid. The all-new Madring is a combination of a permanent race track together with street circuit sections.
Few have driven the circuit in anger, although Ferrari conducted a 200km ‘filming day’ at the track recently. The biggest clue to how the drivers will fare came from the F3 two-day test at the end of August, which proved to be carnage.
James Vowles explained to Spanish publication Sport: “In the Formula 3 test there were 19 red flags and three broken chassis, broken suspensions. OK, they’re Formula 3 drivers, but it’s a track that kills cars.”
For F1 teams who spend millions building and servicing their racing prototype cars, this will hardly be a comfort, and for Charles Leclerc, who wrecked his Ferrari in Monza, he will be under pressure not to repeat the feat in the Spanish capital.
Conquering ‘La Monumental’ Simulations
Miraculously, Leclerc’s SF-26 newly upgraded power unit survived the 60G impact at the Parabolica in Monza, and so the Monegasque driver will take no grid drop for a new engine. Yet danger looms at a variety of places around the track, with the impressive ‘La Monumental’ banked turn attracting the attention of many.
The gradient through the corner is a massive 24% and will be one of the defining features of this new track. Local boy Carlos Sainz has spent extensive time in the simulator and believes the turn, which is over half a kilometre in length, will prove a challenge for the drivers.
“It is probably more challenging than I thought,” revealed the Williams driver. “I thought it would be a flat-out, easy flat-out corner and just like an acceleration corner. It’s turned out to be much more challenging, at least in the simulator, in a good way. With all that banking, all that control of the car through there, it will be a big challenge.”
In an effort to simplify matters for the drivers and teams on an all-new track, the FIA has restricted the active aero zones to just two sections. Further, they have added Jeddah-style fake painted kerbs in sector three to prevent the drivers from risking it all too close to the walls.
In Monza, Max Verstappen was asked whether he had driven the circuit on his home simulator. “Yeah I did, we also have it on the F1 sim. It’s going to be very difficult. It’s not an easy track. If you do a few laps in a row, it’s always hard to cross the line and say ‘I nailed the lap’. It’s very hard. It also has a tendency of creating some big shunts in some places,” revealed the quadruple F1 champion.
Navigating Smooth Asphalt and the Pecking Order
Unlike most street circuits, the Madring is reportedly silky smooth, which will allow the teams to run their cars low to the ground. However, the all-new asphalt may prove to be slippery, making traction high on the team’s setup list of things to do.
In terms of the pecking order, despite claiming their first 1-2 since China last time out in Monza, Toto Wolff believes the coming weekend in Madrid will be anything but a walk in a royal park. Speaking to assembled media, the Mercedes boss said: “This weekend presents a completely different challenge. The circuit characteristics are much closer to somewhere like Budapest or Zandvoort. We are therefore expecting a very close-fought weekend.”
Of course, in Hungary and the Netherlands, it was Lando Norris who romped to victory for McLaren, so Wolff is clearly expecting the papaya cars to be his team’s prime rivals. “Our task is to understand the demands of the track in Madrid as quickly as possible and maximise our performance from the first session onwards,” Wolff concluded.
Unlike Wolff, a number of the drivers had described the circuit as having similarities to Jeddah, with its high-speed corners together with walls very close to the apex of the turns. There are also sections reminiscent of the tight and twisty Marina Bay Circuit in Singapore.
Alonso’s Hopes and 2026 Regulation Realities
Fernando Alonso has ruled out announcing his retirement at his home race in Madrid, and faces the prospect of a remarkable 24th season in F1 in 2027. At a circuit which will not be power-dominated and will suit the more sophisticated chassis, the Spaniard believes there is hope for the fragile Aston Martin team.
“Looking forward, I think from the remaining races, we know that there are weekends that we will struggle and weekends that will be better,” said Alonso. “Maybe the next one is one of the opportunities.”
The Madring will be Fernando’s first Spanish street circuit since his remarkable victory in Valencia way back in 2012. This too was one of the final F1 appearances of Michael Schumacher before his second retirement and tragic ski accident.
The circuit may well expose the ‘numb’ car feelings which Max Verstappen described of the all-new 2026 cars in an interview published by the BBC on Wednesday this week. The Red Bull driver explained these regulations create a “choke hold” which forces the drivers to manage energy deployment rather than commit fully to flat-out racing, along with lifting and braking early way ahead of the traditional braking zones.
The iconic ‘La Monumental’ banked corner may well prove the difference between the very best drivers and the rest of the field if they can commit to taking it flat out rather than managing energy. There are many unknowns ahead of the drivers coming into the all-new 2026 Spanish Grand Prix, but the excitement here in Madrid is palpable in a city famed for its football mania.
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A.J. Hunt is Senior Editor at TJ13, where Andrew oversees editorial standards and contributes to the site’s Formula 1 coverage. A career journalist with experience in both print and digital sports media, Andrew trained in investigative journalism and has written for a range of European sports outlets.
At TJ13, Andrew plays a central role in shaping the site’s output, working across breaking news, analysis, and long-form features. Andrew’s responsibilities include fact-checking, refining editorial structure, and ensuring consistency in reporting across a fast-moving news cycle.
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In addition to editorial duties, Andrew is particularly interested in how media narratives shape fan perception of Formula 1, and how reporting can balance speed with accuracy in an increasingly digital news environment.
Mayybe it should be called MAD-RING 😉