The 2026 Spanish Grand Prix crawled by in a blur of strategy and tyre management, the kind of race that flatters spreadsheets more than senses. The Madring promised a new era for Formula 1 in Madrid. What it delivered on Sunday was a procession.
The venue itself? Drivers loved it. The racing? Not so much.
A spectacular stage, a flat performance
On paper, the Madring should work. Half permanent circuit, half public roads threading around the IFEMA conference centre in north-east Madrid, it gave designer Jarno Zaffelli a rare luxury in modern F1: a partial blank slate.
“Testing was very positive,” he told Architectural Digest before the weekend, talking up the track’s flow and its potential to prove that street circuits “are not boring.”
The atmosphere backed him up. Fernando Alonso, Carlos Sainz, Lewis Hamilton, Arvid Lindblad and others all praised the setting and the buzz around Madrid’s first race. The paddock loved the city. The fans turned up. The backdrop was worthy of a modern Grand Prix.
Then the lights went out.
Lindblad admitted it “wasn't the most exciting race.” Gabriel Bortoleto went further when asked if it was as dull to drive as it was to watch.
“Yeah, I almost fell asleep as well,” the Audi driver said, cutting through the politeness.
Esteban Ocon pointed the finger at the tyres. With little degradation and no graining on Sunday, there was no strategic tension, no late-race swings.
“It was like 120% from as soon as you pitted to the end,” the Haas driver said. “Because the graining didn't happen, that's where we ended up. If we had a race on Friday, it would have been much better.”
But the rubber was only half the story.
A layout that shuts the door
The track design took the heavier fire.
Max Verstappen’s trip off at the opening chicane on lap one underlined a core problem: there was almost no room to pass. The Turn 5–6 chicane quickly became a symbol of frustration, branded too narrow, too awkward, and essentially off-limits for overtakes. The sequence of left-handers after the banked La Monumental section offered little more hope.
Lando Norris didn’t bother dressing it up.
“I don't know how someone looks at this design and goes, mint!” he said in the press conference.
Visibility was another recurring complaint. Several corners are blind, with walls and angles that leave drivers guessing at what lies ahead. Sainz did not hide his concern.
“Same as in Jeddah and Baku, it's poor,” he said, lumping Madrid in with two of F1’s most controversial modern layouts. He noted that the FIA appears comfortable with this direction for new circuits, while the drivers are pushing back.
“We're going to go towards these circuits because going at 260km/h, 270km/h on esses that you cannot see through is definitely eye-opening and definitely makes you question how safe everything is.”
Alonso, never one to waste a punchline, took aim at La Monumental, the headline banked corner that had dominated the pre-race hype.
He said his Aston Martin press officer, Michael Clayton, could have taken it flat.
“It is sad, you know, in a way, with this generation of cars to come to a very nice circuit like this one, with challenges here and there, like Monumental corner, Turn 12, and the driver input is just nothing,” Alonso said. “Michael can drive in Turn 12 because you go flat with no deployment.”
A corner built to thrill, neutered by the sheer grip and weight of modern machinery.
Where do you pass?
George Russell honed in on the fundamental flaw.
On a modern F1 circuit, the recipe is simple: long straight, big braking zone, space to attack. Madrid’s longest straight feeds into a tight roundabout-style complex with no clean line for a move.
“I guess the one small frustration in the design is just the lack of clear overtaking opportunities,” Russell said. “On every track, at the end of a long straight, you need a clear opportunity to overtake, and the longest straight here goes into that tight roundabout section. So that's probably the only thing we wish was different.”
“Only” is doing a lot of work there.
Norris was more direct. He called for Turns 18–19 to be scrapped entirely.
“They should get rid of [Turns] 18–19 – useless,” he said.
His vision is clear: a straight line from Turn 17 to Turn 20, opening into a wide, attacking hairpin in the style of Turn 1 or Turn 10 in Austin.
“A big hairpin, you create much better opportunities for everyone and you'll be able to enjoy the race,” he argued, before adding that some corners, like Turn 5–7, might need more complex rethinking.
Valtteri Bottas, now with Cadillac, echoed Russell’s view that it was “quite easy” to defend after the longest straight. He also highlighted the blind nature of sectors two and three.
“Sometimes it's a bit sketchy, unnecessarily blind in places,” he said, recalling similar issues when F1 first visited Saudi Arabia before the walls were moved back.
Maybe, he suggested, Madrid can follow the same path and open things up.
Turn 5 under the microscope
Among the corners, Turn 5 took the heaviest criticism. On paper, it’s a heavy braking zone – exactly where you’d expect overtakes. In reality, the bumpy entry, high kerbs and narrow track squeeze out any realistic chance of a move.
Williams driver Alex Albon pointed to the junior categories as a warning sign.
“I think we need to revisit this track a little bit… because I think, I don't know if you watched the F3 and F2 races, but it was all drivers going side by side in the chicane and then complaining that one of them didn't let them back past,” he said. “So that corner in particular is the corner that I think needs the most work.”
Bortoleto questioned the very idea of the Turn 5–6 chicane in the current era.
“I just don't see how… Like even if they slow down the corner, what are they going to do, you know… especially with the big cars we have nowadays; if it was 1990s cars, maybe you could put something, but it's not like this anymore.”
The cars have outgrown the concept. The track hasn’t caught up.
Even La Monumental, the banking built to define the circuit, came under the microscope. Verstappen liked the idea, but not the execution.
“Yeah, I mean, it's cool, the banking, but I think they should have done it the other way around, though. Initially more banking and then just flatten it out,” he said.
The message from the grid was consistent: the Madring has ingredients, but the recipe is wrong.
The bigger question: are street circuits the problem?
Beneath the specifics of Turns 5, 12, 18 or 20 lies a deeper tension. Maybe it isn’t just Madrid. Maybe modern F1 cars and street circuits are an uneasy match.
Verstappen didn’t sugarcoat his stance.
“I'm not a fan of street circuits, so that will never change,” he said. “I will always prefer to drive on a track like Spa.
“What they have done, the way they have built everything up, I think they have done a really good job, but I'm not a fan of street circuits.”
Alonso, from a different generation but with a similar taste, agreed.
“I still prefer normal circuits,” he said. “You know, in general, you push the limits of the car… On a street circuit, you are always 95% because the track is always surprising you.”
The Madring sits right at the heart of that debate: a hybrid street track designed to be spectacular, constrained by walls and city infrastructure, and asked to host cars that are wide, heavy and brutally fast.
The criticism is not falling on deaf ears. Discussions are already under way about changes for the next Spanish Grand Prix layout. Corners will be redrawn. Walls may move. The overtaking puzzle will be revisited.
The drivers have made their views plain. The stage is set. Now Madrid has to decide what kind of Grand Prix it wants to be.
