The Biggest Talking Points From F1’s Newest Race
Madrid arrived on the F1 calendar with plenty of attention surrounding it. A brand-new circuit, a new addition to the European leg of the season and another attempt to bring Formula 1 to a major city. On paper, there was plenty to get excited about.
But once the cars actually hit the track, the biggest question quickly became a slightly less exciting one: was Madrid actually any good?
There were certainly moments worth talking about across the weekend, from qualifying drama to some impressive individual performances and a much-needed result for Franco Colapinto. But the circuit itself was arguably the biggest story – and not necessarily for the right reasons.
After three days of running, Madrid has left us with plenty to discuss. The question is whether it had left us wanting to come back for more.
Friday Practice – First Impressions
Friday was always going to be about first impressions. With drivers tackling the Madrid circuit for the first time in a competitive F1 car, practice was less about reading too much into the timing sheets and more about figuring out what the track actually had to offer.
The initial signs were mixed.
George Russell topped FP1, with Kimi Antonneli second, before Antonelli went fastest in FP2 ahead of both Ferraris. But the headline from Friday wasn’t just the timesheets. The session was interrupted by a red flag after Lindblad crashed at turn 13, while the weekend had already been preceded by plenty of incidents in the junior categories, adding to the sense that this was a circuit with very little room for error.
There was clearly plenty for the drivers to get their heads around, with the circuit demanding a combination of precision and confidence. But while the layout looked interesting on paper, driving it didn’t necessarily translate into the kind of flowing challenge we have seen at some of F1’s more established venues.
The opening sessions also gave us our first glimpse at the likely overtaking problem. A circuit can be difficult without being bad, but if the difficulty comes from awkward sections rather than corners that encourage drivers to race each other, that’s where the questions start.
The tyre degradation was another obvious talking point, particularly through the longer corners, with drivers warning that managing tyres would be difficult on Sunday. More importantly, overtaking was already proving difficult in long runs – something that would become rather important once the actual racing started.
And those questions only became louder as the weekend progressed.
Saturday Qualifying – Margins Matter
If Friday was about figuring Madrid out, Saturday was about making the most of it.
Qualifying put a greater emphasis on precision, with relatively small mistakes capable of having a significant impact on the final grid. As usual, the margins between success and disappointment were incredibly fine.
And the results were certainly close. Lando Norris took the first ever pole at the Madring, beating Kimi Antonelli by just 0.011 seconds, with Max Verstappen third and the Ferrari pair of Hamilton and Leclerc closely behind.
It also highlighted one of the biggest characteristics of the new circuit: track position matters.
That isn’t necessarily unusual in Formula 1, but it becomes increasingly important when overtaking looks really difficult. A strong qualifying position doesn’t just give you an advantage at the start – it can effectively shape your entire Sunday.
Norris’ pole was particularly impressive considering how quiet his weekend had been up to that point. His final lap of 1:31:824 was enough to edge Antonelli, despite Norris running wide at the final corner.
For some drivers, this made Saturday particularly important. For others, the weekend was already beginning to slip away.
Lando Norris – Another Weekend of What Ifs
For Lando Norris, Madrid became another example of how quickly a promising weekend can disappear.
There is a difference between simply having a bad weekend and being genuinely unlucky, and Norris’ situation falls much closer to the latter.
Norris had done everything right up to that point. He started from pole, held off Antonelli at the start and had built a lead of more than six seconds by lap 15. Then Lance Stroll stopped at turn 20 with a brake problem, bringing out the VSC.
The problem for Norris was timing. He had already passed the pit entry when the Virtual Safety Car was called, while Antonelli, Verstappen and Russell were still able to dive into the pits and take a much cheaper stop. By the time Norris came in a lap later, the VSC had just ended. A slow seven-second stop then dropped him down to fifth.
And then there is the particularly frustrating irony to it all: Norris was effectively punished for being too fast. In a race where he appeared to have the quickest car, he lost the victory without actually being beaten on pace.
Then there was Sunday.
Sunday’s Race – Did Madrid Deliver?
The actual race gave us some good moments, but it also exposed the biggest weakness of the Madring.
Kimi Antonelli ultimately took the first F1 victory at the Madring, finishing ahead of Max Verstappen, with Norris behind in third. Liam Lawson, slightly further back in sixth, also scored some valuable points in the Red Bull.
The opening laps provided the usual excitement, with drivers fighting for position and trying to make the most of their opportunities before the race settled down. But as the laps went on, the circuit’s limitations became increasingly obvious.
The problem wasn’t necessarily a complete lack of racing. It was that the track didn’t always make that racing particularly easy.
When a driver catches the car ahead, there should be a sense that something could actually happen. The following car needs somewhere to make a move, or at the very least, enough of an advantage to put the driver ahead under pressure.
Madrid didn’t really offer that.
Strategy therefore became increasingly important, with teams having to think about when to stop and how much track position was worth. But strategy can only do so much when the physical layout makes overtaking difficult.
One of the more positive stories, however, came from Franco Colapinto.
After the disappointment of the previous race, a seventh-place finish at Madrid was exactly the kind of response he needed. For Alpine, P7 is nothing to dismiss either. In a midfield that can be incredibly unpredictable, scoring points requires taking advantage when the opportunity presents itself – and Colapinto did exactly that.
Elsewhere, the race continued to raise the same question that had followed the circuit throughout the weekend: was the racing itself good enough to justify the track?
And that brings us to the biggest talking point of the entire weekend.
The Track – What Did Drivers and Fans Actually Think?
There is a difference between a circuit being visually impressive and being a good racing circuit.
Madrid certainly has the first part. The event has the scale and spectacle you’d expect from a more modern F1 venue, and there is nothing inherently wrong with Formula 1 wanting to race in a major city.
But the track itself is where the debate starts.
And perhaps nowhere was the gap between the hype and reality more obvious than La Monumental. The heavily promoted banked section was one of the features used to sell the Madring as something unique, but once the cars actually raced there, it became difficult to see what it added to the quality of the racing.
Driver opinions across the weekend gave us a pretty good indication of the problem. Some enjoyed the challenge, while others were less convinced by particular sections of the layout. And ultimately, the most important opinion is the one that matters on Sunday: does it allow cars to race?
Fan reaction was similarly mixed.
There is always going to be an adjustment period when a new circuit arrives, and it would be unfair to completely judge Madrid after one race. But first impressions matter. If fans come away from a new Grand Prix talking more about the lack of racing, that isn’t exactly the ideal start.
And while the circuit can obviously evolve, the question now is whether changes can turn it into a track that drivers enjoy racing on rather than simply one that looks good on a calendar graphic.
Closing – Madrid Has Work to Do
So, was Madrid a disaster? No.
There were good performances, plenty of championship implications and a few genuinely interesting stories throughout the weekend.
However, the track has a lot of convincing to do.
The atmosphere, spectacle and ambition are all there. Now Madrid needs to make sure the racing is too.
Written by Eszter Szalontai
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