How the Madrid GP is preparing for F1
Rumors of delays in the setup work for the new Madrid GP circuit now seem like a distant memory. While the country secures a double appointment on the calendar in alternating years, with Barcelona having signed an agreement with Liberty Media to rotate with (the more prestigious and appreciated) Spa-Francorchamps, the Madring is warming up its engines to host the Spanish GP on the weekend of next September 13. The track designed in the suburban district of Valdebebas, around the IFEMA exhibition center and the Real Madrid sports city, not only promises to finish the work by the scheduled date but already has its first event planned.
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Characteristics of the Madring
The track, 5,747 meters long, is designed according to the latest trends embraced by the GP paddock, which seems to prefer city tracks that are as fast as possible over permanent circuits – usually located several kilometers from large urban centers – with drivers called to speed between the walls. This was first the case with Baku, then also with Jeddah, Miami and Las Vegas, and it will be the same with Madrid, albeit with a new element given by the fact that part of the layout will be permanent and not dismantled every year at the end of the GP: it is here that, for example, the Monumental curve will be built, the banked turn that is already one of the main distinctive elements of the track.
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The next steps
Speaking of work, according to reports from some Spanish newspapers, the setup of the permanent part of the circuit will be finished by the end of May, with a first event already scheduled for the summer: on the weekend of August 16, in fact, cars will take to the track for the first time to verify compliance with organizational and safety requirements. The baptism will be entrusted to the GR Cup Spain series, the one-make championship reserved for Toyota GR86 cars, which will therefore be observed very closely by emissaries of the International Federation to evaluate the track in view of final homologation for the top racing series. Not that, moreover, there are any particular doubts: for the Madrid GP weekend, Formula 1 has already sold something like 80,000 tickets.
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