Nobody hates Formula 1 as much as people who love Formula 1.
The announcement that Madrid will host the Spanish Grand Prix from 2026 onward, and that it will be yet another street circuit, was met with a widespread sense of “blegh”. But the haters may have a point in this case.
We’ve seen a real trend towards street circuits in F1 recently. Monaco is of course a classic, and Baku and Singapore have been on the calendar for long enough to count as staples now as well. But then in recent years, we saw Miami and Las Vegas being added, as well as Jeddah, which is designed with all the characteristics of a street circuit, and the circuit at Shanghai returning this year. And in 2026, we’ll get another one in the form of Madrid.
Fans have grown tired of this trend, and it’s easy to see why. These tracks come at the cost of traditional racetracks like Paul Ricard and Hockenheim, with Spa seemingly permanently on the edge of being cut. And in return, the street circuits all follow the same boring formula. The track is very narrow, the elevation is often minimal, the corners are boring, there’s very little chance to overtake, and visually it all looks the same.
Honestly, they can be pretty fun.
But that’s usually only if there’s carnage on track. Otherwise it’s a procession. We shouldn’t be dependent on crashes to keep the racing interesting. We have NASCAR for that. F1 should be above that, but these street circuits are not helping with that.
Madrid is especially bad
Though when it comes to the Madrid track, there is something particularly bad about it. So bad it’s almost insulting.
See, most city circuits are just that: circuits placed on city streets. Singapore, Baku, Monaco, and all the rest are using streets that 360 days of the year are used for getting the kids to school and doing groceries. It’s a good way to showcase your city and use famous landmarks, like how Las Vegas utilizes the Las Vegas Strip in its track design.
But Madrid is barely even in Madrid. Most of the track utilizes roads on the outskirts of the city that are part of the industrial area and a piece of barren land that’s currently under construction for a large infrastructure project.
At that point, why not just create a proper racetrack?
City circuits have the awkward situation that they usually don’t have the most interesting corners because city streets are not designed for that. They are limited by what roads there are already in place, so you end up with long straights and 90 degree corners. Madrid does not have as much of that, but that’s largely because several parts of it are outside the city and on specially designed land.
So if they’re willing to go through that trouble… why not make an actual racetrack that doesn’t have those limitations at all? You are walking so close up to that line of doing the right thing, but then turn away at just the last moment, leaving us not with a perfect hybrid like the Canada circuit, but an ugly and complicated mess of a track. And I cannot help but wonder: why?
So why go to Madrid?
In a reaction on the F1 website immediately after the announcement, CEO Stefano Domenicali said something that pretty much gives the whole game away. “It shows that at a moment where Europe is perceived to be a place that is not ready to invest in our sport, Madrid and others are showing it is.”
Keyword: invest.
Translation: pay us money and we will go to your city.
I mean, are we really going to pretend like there’s no interest in F1 in Europe? Europe? Silverstone, Monza, Monaco, Imola, Spa, these are all classic circuits steeped in history that every fan of Formula 1 looks forward to. Even more modern classics like the Hungaroring and yes, Barcelona, have become iconic. Not to say there isn’t anything interesting outside of Europe (I swear F1, if you dare remove Interlagos from the calendar…)
But clearly, the word invest is all that Domenicali and Liberty Media are really interested in. Nostalgia, history, excitement from the fans, interesting racing, none of that really matters. All that matters is the investment. So find yourself a nice plot of desert or some messy city streets, slap a concrete barrier around it, “invest” that money, and there you have it. The newest addition to the F1 calendar.