In January 2024, Formula 1® announced that the Spanish Grand Prix would move from its long-term home at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya to a new circuit in Madrid for the 2026 season. By that point, the track had already been five years in the making.

In the 32 months since the announcement, work has been ongoing. Tight deadlines have been met and strict inspections passed in order to prepare for the arrival of F1® this weekend.

Since the beginning, the vision for the Madring was clear: a hybrid street circuit, in an easy-to-reach location, with sights set on becoming the most sustainable race on the calendar. The circuit runs around the IFEMA Madrid exhibition centre, which hosted the first-ever official F1® Exhibition in 2023 prior to being announced as the newest venue at which the sport will race.

Madrid's airport is less than 10km from the track, and the venue is served directly by metro, train and bus services, with journey times from the city centre to the Valdebebas district in which the circuit is located taking only minutes.

The location of the track ensures that the Spanish Grand Prix will be one of the most accessible for fans, while also allowing easy access to fan festivals and other activations in the heart of the city across race week.

The road to a circuit joining the Formula 1® calendar is rarely straightforward. Plans change, hurdles must be overcome and, eventually, all being well, tracks will make their way onto the schedule.

For Madrid, the idea of a street race in the Spanish capital was first seriously considered over a decade ago, in 2014. But it wasn't until 2019 that the beginnings of the Madring project came together. Formal planning started three years later and soon after, in February 2023, the project had gathered enough momentum to invite a circuit designer onboard.

From there, a proposal was presented to Formula 1® CEO Stefano Domenicali, before an agreement in principle was reached in June 2023 and the project was officially confirmed in early 2024. But that was just the beginning of the real work …

Each prospective new Formula 1® track must pass rigorous checks before it can be included on the calendar, including a homologation process by the FIA after the track has been constructed. To host a Grand Prix, the circuit must possess a coveted FIA Grade 1 License, which demands the strictest standards in both safety and infrastructure.

Tracks are studied in minute detail, all to assess whether they meet the conditions outlined in the FIA Sporting Code and its various appendices. The regulations necessitate at least one preliminary inspection and one final inspection, to look at everything from the placement of safety barriers and catch fencing to access for fans and personnel and impact on the local surroundings.

The list of considerations is expansive. For example, a unique feature of the Madring is that unlike other street circuits, you will find no manhole covers here. Keen to avoid issues with manholes seen at other city tracks, organisers took the decision to ensure there were none on the specially-built sections of track and even removed and rerouted existing covers on the public roads which form part of the circuit.

Under the regulations, the track surface, permanent features and safety installations had to be completed at least 90 days prior to the Madring's first race, while the final inspection had to take place no later than 60 days before the first race. Another final inspection – mandatory for all non-permanent venues – will take place 48 hours before the first competitive track activity.

700,000 cubic metres of earth were shifted in the initial construction phase, 60% of which would later be used elsewhere on-site. Underground infrastructure required careful consideration, with existing electrical cables and waterways rerouted or adapted before the three layers of asphalt could be laid to create the track surface. The asphalt was laid over a period of three months, from March to June this year.

The centrepiece of the track – the unique banked, 550m, La Monumental turn required highly specialised work, involving multiple paving machines working in unison to ensure the surface was laid correctly. It was one of the final parts of track to be paved. Soil removed across the building site was repurposed to shape the 24% gradient banking in this section of track.

The construction of the three-storey pit building and paddock complex commenced in November 2025. Initially, the circuit will have a total capacity for 110,000 fans per day – though that number will rise in the near future to 140,000. The track holds a contract to host the Spanish Grand Prix until at least 2035.

Being a semi-permanent venue, the Madring – much like Formula 1® itself – will be ever-evolving in the coming years. Construction companies ACCIONA and Eiffage Construction have been responsible for the building of the track and will also oversee the annual dismantling and installation of temporary structures, as well as returning public roads to the original state at the conclusion of each race weekend.

Work on the track was completed at the end of May and an inspection by the FIA soon after gave the green light for the finishing touches to be made to the venue's infrastructure. Formula 3 completed the first on-track testing at the venue in late August. Audi Development Driver Freddie Slater, who heads back to the Madring this weekend with a shot at the F3 title, topped the timesheet on the opening day of the circuit's first on-track action.