Formula 1 arrives at a brand-new circuit — Madring in the Spanish capital, the first entirely new track on the championship calendar since the Las Vegas debut in 2023. The circuit is 5.414 km long with 22 corners, and the race distance is 308.399 km over 57 laps.

The circuit’s most distinctive feature is the banked “La Monumental” corner — a 550-metre section with a 24% gradient, designed with multiple racing lines to encourage overtaking. Around 45,000 spectators are expected to watch this section from the grandstands. The track combines public roads around the IFEMA Madrid complex and Valdebebas with entirely new permanent sections, with cars set to reach a top speed of around 340 km/h.

Despite the ambitious design, drivers remain full of question marks ahead of the first race here. George Russell warned the race could “go one of two extreme ways” depending on the level of tyre wear, while Lewis Hamilton admitted he has “no idea what to expect”, after Friday practice showed unexpectedly heavy wear on long fuel runs. Andrea Kimi Antonelli joked that “the first ten laps will probably be driven like grandma”, but added that it remains to be seen exactly how the race will unfold.

The sector around “La Monumental” poses a particular challenge — the consecutive fast corners and steep banking put serious strain on the tyres and lead to graining, a problem that was clearly evident in Friday’s sessions.

As for overtaking, the narrow, wall-lined circuit severely limits opportunities to attack. Max Verstappen sharply criticised the track layout, saying the design “could have been better”, since some corners require braking and turning at the same time, making overtaking there practically impossible. The main overtaking opportunity remains the chicane at turn five, though even that looks fairly limited.

Sky Sports analyst Bernie Collins predicted a two-stop race with a “destructive” turn of events, rather than a one-stop strategy, depending on just how severe tyre wear proves to be under real racing conditions. Madrid-born driver Carlos Sainz is serving as the track’s ambassador for this first-ever Formula 1 race in the Spanish capital.