Formula 1 has officially confirmed the entry of Madrid starting from 2026, which will thus inherit the name of the Spanish Grand Prix from the Barcelona event.
The new circuit will have a city soul, crossing three different areas: the first is the one inside the fair, the second will exploit the streets open to the public while the third will develop on adjacent land currently in disuse. The track will be 5,474m long and will have 20 corners, with simulations predicting the completion of a qualifying lap at around one minute and thirty-two seconds.
Since this is a city track in an area outside the city, the circuit is actually divided into two sections by an elevated highway and they will be connected by two tunnels, as happens for example in the second sector in Miami. Formula 1 itself, in fact, compares the hybrid nature of the new facility to that of the US city, which uses a combination of existing roads and specially built areas in the Hard Rock Stadium car park.
Photo by: Formula 1
IFEMA Madrid
Two key figures contributed to the creation of the track, namely Dromo designer Jarno Zaffelli and F1 vehicle performance manager Craig Wilson, who can count on the experience gained at Mercedes and Williams. The latter has been part of the group contributing to track design since the start of the Liberty Media era, having been hired by Ross Brawn in 2017.
“From the first suggestion to where we got to, there were about 24 possible layouts. But there was also a lot of research into submodels and different details. Now we have a concept that we're happy to move forward with and we're very excited to see it take shape,” Wilson told the official F1 website.
“It's a cross between what is considered a normal road course and a permanent circuit style course. Many places will have a temporary installation [come la zona che sfrutta le strade cittadine] but there are other sections that may look or feel a little different, depending on final implementation decisions to fit the IFEMA site.”
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
Turn 3 at Zandvoort was designed focusing on banking to differentiate the trajectories and give some overtaking opportunities
The circuit has clearly yet to receive the approval and homologation of the International Federation, but in reality the former Williams and Mercedes engineer himself underlined that there are still many details to be studied in depth.
“The next steps will be to move from concept to detailed design development. Most importantly, go through the FIA submission and homologation process, and all safety assessments, to obtain the Grade 1 licence,” Wilson added. In fact, to host a top series event, each track must receive the highest level approval from the Federation.
“When you start construction, you have to go through all the inspections, while we have to work with the developers on all the planning, infrastructure, garage layout, specific paddock layout and the integration of all our systems, so It's the beginning of the journey.” The organizers will still have two years to finalize all the details of the plan and proceed with the construction of the designated areas, with the hope that the final inspection will not take place a few days before as happened in Las Vegas, although the city nature of the route clearly imposes limits on road closures.
The Madrid GP circuit
According to Wilson, one of the most interesting sections of the track could be turn 10, i.e. the long bend which from a certain point of view recalls turn 13 of the Arabian track in Jeddah. The idea is in fact to make the curve more steep by adding banking, as in Zandvoort or Jeddah, in order to create overtaking opportunities in curves 11 and 12. However, at the moment it is still in a study phase and not precise details have been provided on the chosen inclination, since it will have to be created artificially.
Another area of the circuit that Wilson immediately indicated as one to keep an eye on is the stretch between Turn 7 and Turn 9, which promises to be “rather downhill” thanks to the climb after the passage through the Recinto Ferial tunnel and the subsequent descent from the public roads to the private ones of Valdebebas.
Between the two aforementioned areas that make up the facility there is an elevated highway, which means that the route will feature two short sections of tunnels to pass from the Recinto Ferial complex to the Valdebebas expansion area and vice versa.
The pit lane garages will be split either side of the central section and will extend within the show's vast network of pavilions, ensuring that some parts of the paddock, such as team hospitality, are in an indoor environment.
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