This Thursday, July 9, 2026, the SF-26, Ferrari’s car for the 2026 season, marked a historic moment by becoming the first model of the year to cover the curves of the Circuit de Madrid. The new home of the Spanish Grand Prix welcomed Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc to a filming test session, where the drivers took turns on the track located in the capital, which will in the future replace the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya as the stage for the Spanish stage.
Charles Leclerc flies new SF-26 on the unprecedented Madrid route
Formula 1 teams are permitted to carry out tests with vehicles from previous seasons, which are less regulated, and also have two days a year for filming with the current car. Although these sessions have a mileage limit of 200 km and are primarily intended for media activities, they are often used by teams as a valuable preparation period for the various competitions throughout the calendar.
Although the SF-26 is the first car in the current championship to run in Madrid, the track itself had already been opened. The previous month, local driver Carlos Sainz drove a 2023 Williams on a one-kilometer stretch of the circuit, attracting around 80,000 spectators to the event. The circuit is still undergoing final adjustments for its official F1 debut in September.
Carlos Sainz had already driven an F1 car on the new Madrid circuit
The 2026 Spanish Grand Prix is scheduled to take place between September 11th and 13th. The Circuit de Madrid, a street track designed specifically for the event, will take over the position previously occupied by the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, which has hosted the Spanish race since 1991. Unlike Barcelona, which had a fixed circuit, Madrid stands out for being an urban layout.
Located close to the IFEMA convention center and just 5 km from the capital’s airport, the Madrid circuit has a contract to host Formula 1 until 2031. Meanwhile, Barcelona, which hosted this year’s Barcelona-Catalunya GP and was the scene of Lewis Hamilton’s first victory with Ferrari, will alternate its place on the calendar with the Belgian Grand Prix, held at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, from 2027 onwards.
Outstanding features of the challenging Madrid Circuit
The Madrid track will be 5.4 km long, with a total of 22 curves, and it is expected that the cars will be able to reach average speeds of over 300 km/h. The estimated average time to complete a lap is 1 minute and 34.400 seconds. One of the most anticipated and challenging points on the route is Turn 13, known as La Monumental, which has an impressive slope of 24%, a value that is almost three times higher than the famous curves at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in the United States, where the Indianapolis 500 takes place.
