- Sainz completes the first laps of Madrid’s new 5.4km Madring circuit.
- La Monumental’s blind banking catches the Williams driver off guard.
- Madrid secures a 10-year Spanish Grand Prix deal starting in September.
Carlos Sainz became the first driver to lap the new Madring circuit on the outskirts of Madrid, completing several runs of the 5.4km, 22-turn layout in a 450bhp Ford Mustang GT.
F1 presenter Lawrence Barretto rode alongside. The Williams driver’s verdict was clear: the circuit delivers far more than its blueprints suggest.
The Madring sits within the IFEMA fairgrounds near Barajas airport, and Madrid is set to host the Spanish Grand Prix from 11 to 13 September, returning Formula 1 to the city for the first time in 45 years.
The race weekend is still months away, but more than 70% of the ticket allocation has already been sold. For Sainz, who was born and raised in Madrid and began his karting career there, the test carried a significance beyond just lap times.
A track of two halves, both with plenty of promise
The circuit splits naturally into two sections. The first runs along public roads around the IFEMA complex. The second, from Turn 9 onwards, shifts into a purpose-built racing section with faster, more flowing corners.
Sainz identified the Turn 1-2 chicane as an early overtaking opportunity. A longer straight then leads into the Turn 5-6 chicane, where he expects battery management to become a decisive factor under the 2026 technical regulations.
“You have two main straights, which is going to create plenty of overtaking, especially with this generation of cars where the battery is going to be tight going onto another long straight,” he told Crash.net.
He also noted that the circuit’s layout lets cars follow each other closely throughout.
“Even on that infield part, you are going to have spots to overtake,” he said. “The momentum allows you to follow closely, because you can choose different lines and put your car in clean air.”
The second half of the lap is where Sainz felt the circuit truly came alive. He described it as the part where drivers will “enjoy a Formula 1 car at its absolute best.”
La Monumental leaves the biggest impression
The standout feature of the Madring is Turn 12, a banked semicircular corner called La Monumental. It stretches 550 metres, rises to 10 metres in height and carries a 24% banking angle.
Around 45,000 spectators will watch from both sides as drivers spend roughly six seconds navigating it.
Sainz admitted the corner surprised him. He expected banking. What he found was something more complex.
“We’ll go in flat out, though we might lift off a bit in the middle to get the front end to grip,” he said.
“This is what impressed me the most. I thought La Monumental would just have banking, but suddenly it’s not only banked, it’s also blind. You’ve created quite a cocktail.“
Building La Monumental was a significant engineering undertaking. Contractors used more than 1,800 cubic metres of asphalt mix, produced at a plant in Vicálvaro and laid at around 170 degrees Celsius.
The window to lay and compact the surface correctly was barely 30 minutes. Two pavers worked in sync to keep the surface uniform across the steep banking.
Shades of Spa and Silverstone in the high-speed esses
After La Monumental, the circuit moves into a sequence of quick, connected corners through the Valdebebas area, known as Las Enlazadas de Valdebebas.
Sainz expects Turns 14, 15 and 16 to all be taken flat out. He compared the stretch to the high-speed esses at Spa and Silverstone.
Before that sequence, Turn 13 presents another braking opportunity. Cars arrive at over 300 km/h and slow to around 140 km/h for the tight left-hander. Sainz flagged it as a likely overtaking point.
Later in the lap, a 117-degree left-hander at Turn 20 sits close to an outside wall. Sainz warned it “could take us all by surprise.”
Madrid’s grand prix era is about to begin
Construction at the Madring continues, with all asphalting expected to be finished by 31 May. An FIA inspection is scheduled for the end of May, after which the homologation phase can begin.
Madrid’s organisers have secured rights to host the Spanish Grand Prix for 10 years, from 2026 to 2035. Barcelona retains its own race on a rotation, with the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya scheduled to host in 2028, 2030 and 2032.
After finishing his run, Sainz spoke with clear enthusiasm in a video released by F1.
“It was honestly impressive. I didn’t expect it to be so much fun, so fluid, so wide, where you can actually lean on the car for so long,” he said. “If it’s already like that in this car, imagine what it will be like in Formula 1.”
Sainz recalled standing in the crowd as a 10-year-old on Madrid’s main avenue, watching fans celebrate his father’s retirement from rallying.
That afternoon gave him his first real sense of how deep motorsport runs in the city. Near the end of his test lap, he could see Real Madrid’s training ground just beyond the barriers.
He reflected on what the race will mean alongside everything else the city already hosts.
“You’ve got two massive football teams. You’ve got stages of the Vuelta as well… Madrid Open tennis… And now you’re gonna have this,” he said.
September will provide the final answer on whether the Madring truly delivers. But Sainz’s first laps suggest the city has built something worth the wait.
