Cial and historic: Formula 1 will arrive in Madrid in 2026
The World Cup con rms the grand prize in the capital of Spain with a semi-urban circuit at IFEMA, signed for ten years. Barcelona is still negotiating to renew.
It is o(cial and historic: Formula 1 will return to Madrid from 2026. The agreement that was long awaited and that has been conceived in recent months is already a reality that guarantees the future of the 'Great Circus' in Spain for the next decade with a semi-urban circuit around IFEMA. The ambitious plan was presented with an event in Madrid in which Domenicali, CEO of the championship, participated; and also Ayuso, president of the Community; Almeida, mayor of the capital; Ángel Asensio, president of the Chamber of Commerce of Madrid; and José Vicente de los Mozos, president of IFEMA. It will be called the Spanish GP from its Irst edition and there are ten years of contract signed, until 2035.
The route is already planned and will include a high section and four clear overtaking points, occupying the surroundings of the Madrid congress palace, plus the annexed land towards Valdebebas. This inclusion in the next calendars will indirectly affect the future of the current Spanish GP at the Circuit de Barcelona-catalunya, so far conirmed for 2026, because the calendar does not allow more than 24 races a year, although both the Circuit and F1 convey that there are ongoing conversations, in Montmeló they hope to present a su(cient proposal to stay and Domenicali will listen to it.
The Madrid project is looked at in two mirrors, Miami and Zandvoort. Because it will be an event designed to make the most of the hospitality areas, as well as the famous paddock of the Hard Rock Stadium, using the IFEMA facilities; and because there will also be the huge Spanish fans that have crowded the home GP in recent campaigns along with the recent good results of Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz. In addition, the track, designed by Jarno Zafelli's studio (which remodeled the track of the Netherlands) will include overruns to generate a greater possibility of overtaking, the usual weak point of the urbans that F1 visits. It is a circuit of 20 curves and the return, more than 5 kilometers, will be around a minute and a half. As it is held relatively far from the nerve center of the city, it will not have an excessive impact on tra(c. The circuit's capacity forecast is 110,000 spectators per day, with the idea of increasing it to 140,000.
The 2026 should be the Irst F1 race in Madrid since 1981: Jarama hosted the World Cup with interruptions between 1968 and that campaign and left for history victories of Graham Hill, Stewart, Fittipaldi, Lauda, Hunt, Mario Andretti or Gilles Villeneuve.