After an intense Saturday session with Lando Norris qualifying at the Madring circuit, this Sunday the first race is taking place on the new F1 World Championship track. The British McLaren driver confirmed the good form of the Woking team and will start from pole position. Alongside him on the front row will be the World Championship leader, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who will try to make a good start to overtake the papaya car on a circuit where overtaking will be very difficult. Behind the front row, the usual suspects: Verstappen, Leclerc, Piastri, Hamilton, and Russell. Sainz and Alonso will start 17th and 18th, respectively.
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Lando Norris dominates the race
DRS ACTIVATED. But little by little we are seeing what we feared. It is impossible to overtake. Kimi Antonelli tries to pass Max Verstappen.
Fastest lap by Lando Norris with a time of 1:39.404
Green Flag
MAX VERSTAPPEN HAS COMPLAINED ABOUT THE START WHERE THE DUTCHMAN CUT THE CORNER LIKE KIMI ANTONELLI!!! Ferrari should be the first to complain because they complied just like Lando Norris, at the head of the race.
Max Verstappen overtakes Kimi Antonelli and reaches 2nd place
Bad start by Fernando Alonso, he lost many positions
Bad start by Oscar Piastri, he lost many positions
Blazing start by Carlos Sainz
TWO STRAIGHTS BY KIMI ANTONELLI RIGHT AT THE START!!!! GREAT START BY MAX VERSTAPPEN WHO PLACED HIMSELF BEHIND LANDO NORRIS WHO KEEPS THE LEAD!!!!
Yellow flag
The race has started
The drivers are already in their positions
A LOT OF VARIETY FOR THE TIRES. Front row for mediums, second for softs, and third and fourth for hards. Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso will start on hards, like the vast majority of drivers on the grid, many of them without having tested them all weekend.
The reconnaissance lap has started
Everything is ready at Madring where all kinds of personalities have been seen as expected. Heat and sun, 32 degrees, and tailwind on the main straight. We are in for 57 exciting laps. The teammates know it and are running to their positions. About to start the Spanish Grand Prix, here in Madrid.
So the Italian from Mercedes leads with 267 points, 66 more than his teammate George Russell (201), 76 over Lewis Hamilton (191), and 96 ahead of Lando Norris (171). So the German team (468 points) dominates comfortably over Ferrari (346), which collapsed in its own country. 122 points, quite a lot.
Kimi Antonelli alone has achieved one more victory (seven) and one more fastest lap (seven) than the entire group of drivers in each of the aspects (six in total per category) in 2026, becoming the Italian with the most wins in a single season in Formula 1 history.
And in the middle, the fight for the drivers’ world championship that Kimi Antonelli set on track last weekend in Monza with his brilliant victory amid the Italian tifosi celebration, thanks to his spectacular comeback of 18 positions to win.
Those who were far from competitive were our Spanish drivers. Fernando Alonso (17th on the grid) is quite content with being 18th ahead of his teammate, the Cadillacs, and Oliver Bearman. On the other hand, Carlos Sainz, who also did not pass Q1, beaten by his teammate Albon (16th), will start 20th after blocking Valtteri Bottas (19th) on his flying lap.
And for that reason, Lando Norris has already made history by being the first poleman ever on this track, after surprising ahead of the Ferraris (Lewis Hamilton 4th and Charles Leclerc 5th), Max Verstappen (3rd) who always rises in big events, and Kimi Antonelli (2nd) whom he left just short by 11 thousandths!!!
Madring will be the second Madrid circuit to host Formula 1, after the permanent Jarama circuit, which held nine editions, the last one in 1981. It will be the 79th circuit in Formula 1, the first to debut since Las Vegas in 2023.
Madring will be the seventh Spanish circuit to host a Formula 1 race. Only the United States (12) has had more different tracks than Spain in the history of this sport (France also seven): Pedralbes, Jarama, Montjuic Park, Jerez de la Frontera, Barcelona, Valencia, and Madrid.
To reach the “Monumental” you must pass the “Bunker,” named after a civil war bunker, where the cars will have to disguise themselves as small cars to cross an urban area with a roundabout, tunnels, a 90-degree corner, and an 8% uphill ramp.
The “Monumental,” which will host 45,000 spectators (out of 110,000 total), will serve as the launch for the straight before turn 13 and, in theory, will be another overtaking point. The last sector is a sequence of fast 90 and 120-degree corners leading to the finish line.
The forecasts do not predict rain during the race
Two points to keep in mind. As always, the main straight, which will connect through turns 2 and 3 with the second straight without losing speed. And, of course, the “Monumental” clearly paying homage to the Las Ventas Bullring in its name, and to the famous NASCAR curve in its shape (550 meters long and 24% banking).
It is sunny
A setting with a 15-meter wide road, but where overtaking will be more than complicated. And this is not only because the fencing is constant next to the curbs, especially in the first sector; but because its layout is mostly twisty (22 corners, which is a lot).
The asphalt is dry and in perfect condition
This impressive semi-urban track project, with serious economic losses for the capital, and still pending reinforcement, especially regarding fan conditions, is already a reality. Between Valdebebas and IFEMA, the 2026 grid will complete 57 laps on a 5.4-kilometer circuit.
Hello, good afternoon to all motor enthusiasts in general, and to all Formula 1 fans in particular. Today is a special day. December 13 has arrived, the date when the “Great Circus” returns to the Community of Madrid and arrives for the first time in its history to the city of Madrid. Welcome to Madring.
