Five things to look out for at the F1 Spanish GP
Formula 1 will welcome a new host of the Spanish Grand Prix this weekend as the Madring will make its debut on the outskirts of Spain’s capital city.
It is replacing previous Spanish GP holder Barcelona, which is still on the F1 calendar but under a new name having hosted its 2026 race in June – won by Lewis Hamilton.
This weekend will be the first time Madrid has appeared on the F1 calendar since the old-school Jarama circuit in 1981 and is one of many things that will be a talking point during the grand prix.
So here are five things to look out for.
It’ll be alright on the night (maybe)
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
Photo by: Madring
With any new event there’s a certain amount of bedding in. Take the first iteration of the Miami Grand Prix, where the sub-optimal location of the catering facilities led to difficulties supplying hot food to the hospitality enclosures.
Oh no! Will nobody think of the poor VIPs and their cold canapes?
Mind you, Monza has been hosting grands prix since long before the world championship began and simply getting in and out of the track remains an essay in pure chaos. Ditto Abu Dhabi, where visitors often have cause to ponder why the arrangements at the gate remain a fustercluck when they’ve been hosting F1 annually since 2009.
To that end it was no surprise when our track team arrived at the Madring (well, maybe not Fil, still trapped on a train somewhere between Barcelona and Madrid) and couldn’t find any way to get from the media centre to the paddock. Also spotted wandering around looking lost: Pedro de la Rosa and Kimi Antonelli.
Logistical disarray will add to the challenges facing the teams setting up their equipment, given that this is the second race of a double-header. Assuming the drivers can find their way to their garages, and that there are cars there to drive, who knows what manner of malarkey could ensue once the cars hit the track?
Recently laid asphalt has a habit of misbehaving, although apparently the surface has been pressure-washed to get rid of the oily residues. And let’s hope all the signage still works, after a whole bunch of wiring was stolen recently…
– Stuart Codling
Kimi Antonelli, the champion in-waiting
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images
Last weekend’s Italian Grand Prix was perhaps the first time George Russell publicly acknowledged that his title hopes were practically over. The Mercedes driver finished runner-up to team-mate Kimi Antonelli at Monza, meaning the 20-year-old Italian has now established a 66-point lead with 10 rounds remaining.
“Yeah, Kimi’s definitely in control of it and he’s deserving to be in control of it,” he said. “I’m not even thinking about a fight or a comeback or anything. I’m just focused on taking it race by race and trying to maximise every single weekend.
“He’s performing incredibly well. It’s going to be exceptionally challenging to overcome that gap, so I’m just sort of accepting that is what it is. I’m just going to enjoy it from here on in and try and win as many races as possible.”
This is certainly not how Russell thought 2026 would pan out, entering the season as the heavy title favourite and supporting that tag by winning the Melbourne opener from pole. Luck subsequently didn’t go his way in the following rounds, such as the untimely safety car in Japan, but Monza was demonstrative of how Antonelli is the deserving leader – considering he started the race in 19th!
If Russell can’t even take advantage on a weekend like that, where his sophomore team-mate was carrying a grid penalty, then it’s hard to see where he will hold the upper hand and perform a comeback.
So Madrid this weekend is just another race on the path to Antonelli’s crowning moment – and don’t bet against him taking an eighth victory of 2026!
– Ed Hardy
The one-off Tsunoda return that has turned into three races
Yuki Tsunoda, Racing Bulls
Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images
It wasn’t long ago that several F1 media outlets – this one included – were labelling Yuki Tsunoda’s return at Zandvoort as a ‘one-off appearance’. Yet, here we are, with the Japanese driver set to make his third grand prix start of the year for Racing Bulls, likewise for Liam Lawson at Red Bull.
This comes as the result of usual Red Bull driver Isack Hadjar still battling with a wrist injury that he sustained during a gym session over the August summer break, first missing Zandvoort and then Monza, with Madrid set to make it three in a row.
While it obviously comes as a disappointment for Hadjar, it has presented a golden opportunity for both Lawson and Tsunoda with neither of their plans for 2026 yet confirmed. For Lawson, he should probably be the most relaxed over his future as the Kiwi has certainly impressed for Racing Bulls this year by scoring consistent points finishes and performing valiantly in the past two rounds for Red Bull.
Tsunoda, meanwhile, has been without a full-time seat in 2026 and is understood to be in talks for an IndyCar drive next year. So a spot on the F1 grid in 2027 is unlikely, but he hasn’t given up all hope and Madrid is just another chance for him to show what he can actually do after his torrid Red Bull stint last year damaged much of his reputation.
The Japanese driver performed solidly in Zandvoort before scoring a point in Monza, and considering Racing Bulls is leading the midfield, one shouldn’t be too shocked if he were to claim another top 10 result.
– Ed Hardy
Red flag chaos?
A marshal waves the red flag
Photo by: Hector Vivas / Getty Images
When F3 headed to the Madring for an official test last month, some team owners and sponsors will have likely scratched their heads. The end result was 19 red flags, including a number of significant crashes that drove up the accident bills.
As is always the case with any new circuit, the grip levels will be extremely low in year one. But Madring’s hybrid of public roads and bespoke high-speed sections with little runoff area could well lead to a chaotic weekend.
A lot of attention will go to the Madring’s headline feature, the steeply banked La Monumental curve and is a lot more complex than it first seems, with its varying radii and elevation changes.
But the corners right before and after the impressive Turn 12 are also extremely tricky, with plenty of exit walls that come back into the track rather than fade away. With so many unknowns, there is every chance the first running of the event could become a messy one.
“I think definitely with the way they’ve put the barriers and the design of the track, it’s going to be one of the biggest challenges in Formula 1 recently,” said Carlos Sainz, who is an ambassador for the event.
“The track reminds me a lot of Jeddah, reminds me a lot of Baku, even reminds me a bit of Macau in some ways. So having that in an F1 car with 1,000 horsepower is going to be quite an interesting challenge.”
Sainz was aware of what happened in the F3 test and was under no illusion that the Madring could be a recipe for chaos, both in qualifying with drivers searching for the limit millimetres away from the walls, and the omnipresent threat of impeding incidents.
“I’ve been looking at the track and hearing of what happened in the F3 test,” he added. “I think we are all expecting safety cars and red flags and yellow flags in qualifying and things like this.
“It’s been a tendency of Formula 1 to go to these kinds of tracks like Jeddah and Baku recently, that are closer to the city, Miami, but they have more walls and we haven’t had any issues with it.”
– Filip Cleeren
Ferrari is under the spotlight after Hamilton’s “there are no rules” remarks
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images
Eyes will be on Hamilton and Charles Leclerc in Madrid this weekend following the clash between the two Ferrari drivers at Monza, and on whether the team will respond to the Briton’s calls for clearer team rules.
Leclerc and Hamilton went side by side into the opening chicane at the start on Sunday. The seven-time world champion went for the inside at Turn 1, but the Monegasque held on and took the inside line for Turn 2, leaving no room for his team-mate, who was forced into the gravel and consequently lost several positions, causing anger.
Hamilton felt he should have been given priority, as he is closer to the Mercedes duo than Leclerc in the drivers’ championship, and took a swipe at Ferrari by recalling how things worked during his time at Mercedes, claiming that “there are no rules” at Maranello.
While F1 heads into unknown territory at the Madring, Ferrari already has some knowledge of the venue from a filming day the team conducted there in July. Whether that will give it an advantage remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: Ferrari must arrive at the Spanish Grand Prix with a clearer understanding between its two drivers.
– Federico Faturos
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