Ferrari heads to Madring as Spanish Grand Prix moves to a new Madrid circuit
Formula 1 goes to Madring, a new 5.416-kilometre circuit built around Madrid's IFEMA exhibition district, for the first Spanish Grand Prix at the venue.
- 5.416 km
- 308.524 km over 57 laps
- 22
- up to 24% over about 550 metres
What Happened
The Spanish Grand Prix moves to a new home at Madring, the new circuit built around IFEMA Madrid, the Spanish capital's exhibition district. The 5.416-kilometre track has 22 corners and combines purpose-built sections with stretches of public road, offering long straights, heavy braking zones, more technical parts and high-speed corners. Sunday's race will be run over 57 laps, for a total distance of 308.524 kilometres. For Scuderia Ferrari HP and the other ten teams it will be a weekend unlike any other, with preparation carried out in the simulator needing to be validated right from the start of Friday practice.
Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton took the SF-26 out on track for a Filming Day at Madring, becoming the first drivers to drive a Formula 1 car at the new circuit; between them they completed the 200 kilometres permitted by the regulations for this type of activity, running on Pirelli demonstration tyres.
Track action gets underway with the first two free practice sessions at 13.30 and 17.00 CEST.
The final hour of free practice at 12.30, followed by qualifying at 16.00.
The first Spanish Grand Prix at Madrid's new Formula 1 venue gets underway at 15.00 local time.
“Every time you go to a new track, you have obviously prepared in the simulator beforehand. The simulator gives you a good idea of what to expect, but once you get there, the reality can be quite different. The grip level isn't the same in every corner: some feel a little less grippy, others a little more. That is going to be one of the big challenges for Charles and Lewis. They will also be travelling at very high speeds, with the walls close and very small margins for error. Putting together a clean lap while still pushing to the limit is going to be difficult.”
- Turn 12, known as "La Monumental": a long, semi-circular corner around 550 metres long with banking at an angle of up to 24%.
- Turn 1 braking zone: one of the most obvious overtaking opportunities.
- Elevation: 26 metres between the lowest point of the circuit, Turn 2 at 671 metres above sea level, and the highest, Turn 7 at 697 metres, with the Subida de las Cárcavas in between where the gradient reaches 8%.
- Longest straight: 837 metres, after the Hortaleza corner, leading onto the urban section of Ribera del Sena.
- Zero manhole covers in the track surface, by design, to avoid the problems seen at other street circuits.
- Spanish flagpole: 54 metres tall, installed between Turn 3 and the entrance to the pit lane, flying a flag measuring 16.66 x 25 metres, which Madring says is the largest in Spain.
- Grands Prix entered: 1,135; seasons in Formula 1: 77; debut: Monaco 1950 (A. Ascari 2nd; R. Sommer 4th; L. Villoresi ret.).
- All-time totals: 250 wins (22.03%), 254 pole positions (22.38%), 268 fastest laps (23.61%), 845 podiums (24.82%).
- Ferrari at the Spanish Grand Prix: 55 races contested since a 1951 debut (J.F. Gonzalez 2nd; A. Ascari 4th; P. Taruffi ret.; L. Villoresi ret.), with 12 wins (21.82%), 14 pole positions (25.45%), 12 fastest laps (21.82%) and 56 podiums (33.94%).
- 51 years since the first and only time a woman has finished in the points in Formula 1: Italy's Lella Lombardi finished sixth in a March-Ford at the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix on the Montjuïc street circuit in Barcelona, a race stopped and never restarted after an accident involving Rolf Stommelen in which several trackside spectators lost their lives.
“We have turned the page after Monza and our full focus is now on Madrid and on the opportunity that a new race weekend presents. Madring is a completely new challenge for Formula 1 and, although Charles and Lewis were able to get an initial feel for the track during our Filming Day in July, there will be a lot for everyone to learn right from the start of Friday practice. The circuit presents a very different challenge to the one we faced last weekend and, on a new track, adapting quickly and making the most of every session will be particularly important. We need to take it one session at a time, focus on ourselves and work as a team to maximise the potential of both cars.”
Previously from Ferrari N.V.
Ferrari arrives in Madrid after the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, where Charles Leclerc qualified fourth and Lewis Hamilton fifth. Ahead of that weekend, Leclerc had said Ferrari needed a perfect weekend to win at Monza, even as the team debuted its ADUO power unit upgrade on the SF-26.
- Ferrari's Leclerc fourth, Hamilton fifth in Italian GP qualifying at Monza
- Leclerc: Ferrari needs perfect weekend at Monza as ADUO power unit debuts
Background drawn from MotorClaw's earlier coverage of Ferrari N.V.'s official releases.
Why this matters
This is Formula 1's first visit to a brand-new track, so no team has real race data for Madring; how quickly Ferrari and the other ten teams learn it in practice will shape the whole weekend. Ferrari has a head start, because Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were the first drivers to take a Formula 1 car around the circuit, during a July Filming Day.
Terms in This Story
- free practice
- The practice sessions held before qualifying and the race, in which teams and drivers test set-ups and gather data on a circuit.
- Filming Day
- A restricted on-track session run outside a race weekend under sporting regulations, which set a maximum permitted mileage.
- simulator
- A machine that reproduces a circuit so drivers and engineers can prepare and test car set-ups without running the real car on track.
- CEST
- Central European Summer Time, the time zone used for the published session times.
Summarised from the linked release; details can be imperfect — always verify against the original source.