Madrid Street Circuit Faces Changes After Boring Spanish Grand Prix

The new Madrid street circuit has survived its first Spanish Grand Prix weekend. Now it faces surgery.

What was sold as F1’s next showpiece – a tight, twisting layout wrapped around the Ifema exhibition centre near Barajas airport – delivered spectacle off the track but a processional race on it. The verdict from the drivers was blunt.

Williams’ Alex Albon called it “pretty boring”. Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto went further, admitting he “almost fell asleep”. World champion Lando Norris, never shy of a straight line, labelled one section “useless” and said it was “not a great racetrack”.

The message landed. Organisers have already told Formula 1 and governing body the FIA they are ready to alter the Madring for 2025.

A showpiece with a flat core

The contradiction at the heart of Madrid’s debut was obvious. One lap, it looked thrilling. Over a race distance, it strangled the very thing modern F1 needs most: overtaking.

Drivers largely enjoyed the challenge of hustling a car around the hybrid layout, which stitches together existing roads with purpose-built sections and the eye-catching banked Turn 12, La Monumental. The lap punished errors, rewarded commitment and produced a lively qualifying session.

Then Sunday arrived, and the race locked up.

Race winner Kimi Antonelli summed up the mood in the cockpit: “It definitely doesn't create overtaking opportunities and it doesn't push you to try and make a move because 80% of the time you might have a contact.

“There are some corners that need to be changed to create more overtaking opportunities because right now, yes, it's nice over one lap, but for sure in the race you're just stuck behind.”

Norris was even more specific. For him, the late-section chicane complex is dead weight.

“There are some obvious changes they should make,” he said. “They should get rid of [Turns] 18, 19 – useless. Just have more of a straight into a hairpin.

“I don't know how someone looks at this design and goes, 'mint'.

“There's a lot of opportunity. They can make it into a track that's good for racing, and I'm excited to come back here next year if they can make these changes because I think it's a track that is good fun to drive and it can be a great racetrack.”

Norris’ own race only sharpened the frustration. A virtual safety car arrived at exactly the wrong time for McLaren, stripping him of a likely victory and leaving him to stew in traffic on a circuit that refused to open up.

Paddock split: event dazzles, layout disappoints

Out on track, the complaints were loud. Inside the paddock hospitality units, the tone softened.

Team principals lined up to praise the sheer scale and ambition of the project. Ferrari’s Frederic Vasseur was emphatic about the event, if not the wheel-to-wheel action.

“First, I have to say that we can discuss about overtaking, but overall, for me, the event was mega,” he said. “The infrastructure, we were mega welcome in the city. We have also to be fair with them and to congratulate Madrid for the job done on this side.

“They are keen to do modifications in the future. They have probably more latitude in Madrid than in Monaco to change something. Let's work together to see if we can do something. But overall, I think we have to be fair with them. It was a good effort.”

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff went even stronger on the off-track verdict.

“For a first [race], it's probably one of the best, or maybe the best, that I've seen so far,” he said. “It's a temporary circuit. They've built something that is challenging for the drivers. A mini Macau or a mini Monaco. The location is good.

“We're thinking about how much more can we do next year in terms of the events here or presentations because we have the space and that's very rare. So I would say congratulations for a first.”

Then came the sting.

“And then it's the tricky bit. Doing a track that is spectacular also for the drivers. And then building it in a way that there is lots of overtaking.

“I had a discussion yesterday with the CEO of the circuit and they are totally open-minded about next year and say we've had the discussions with the FIA – 'what is it we should do? How is it that we should lay the track out when it comes to overtaking also?'”

“There is a constant discussion and I think that they are on it and understand that we can tweak it a little bit here or there.”

The blueprint is clear: keep the show, fix the race.

Fans see the cracks

While teams applauded the ambition, many fans in the grandstands and general admission areas had a different race weekend.

Social media filled with complaints about basic comforts and sightlines. Some supporters said they were forced to sit on bare earth trackside, others reported poor visibility, broken facilities and a sense that the venue simply was not ready.

None of this surprised those who knew the timescale. The Madring was always racing the clock, stitching together its roads-and-permanent layout around Ifema in time for its debut.

The bones of the circuit are interesting. La Monumental, the banked Turn 12, already carries a distinctive identity. The mix of permanent and temporary sections gives organisers room to move barriers, extend straights and reshape corners in a way a traditional permanent circuit cannot.

Right now, that flexibility looks less like a luxury and more like a necessity.

Madrid promises changes

Madring managing director Luis Garcia Abad, formerly Fernando Alonso’s manager, did not respond to BBC Sport’s request for comment on Monday. His stance after the race, though, made Madrid’s position plain.

Speaking to Autosport, he said: “The FIA defined clearly which is the way to improve the track layout, and we will be open because we will have to reinstall the track for the next year.

“I really believe that the drivers enjoyed qualifying a lot. But for sure we will try to make an improvement for next year.

“We have the space, we have a venue, we have the facilities, we have the capacity to do it. I'm sure that FOM [Formula One Management], FIA and ourselves, we will try. If we can improve something, we will do it.”

That line – “we will have to reinstall the track” – is crucial. The Madring is not a fixed piece of tarmac carved into the countryside. It is a puzzle that gets rebuilt, section by section, each year. Corners can move. Straights can lengthen. Problem areas can be cut away.

Madrid, then, is not stuck with a flawed design. It is staring at an opportunity.

The inaugural race proved the city can stage a big, modern F1 event and wrap it in the kind of urban energy the sport craves. Now comes the harder part: turning a “mini Macau or a mini Monaco” into a circuit where a driver in a quicker car can actually make a pass.

The organisers say they are listening. The FIA has already drawn up ideas. Drivers have not been shy with their own sketches.

By the time the paddock rolls back into Ifema next year, the question will be simple: will Madrid still be a great event that hosts a dull race, or will it have taken the leap to become a venue worthy of the noise that surrounds it?