F1 Madring circuit guide: Why F1's newest track is going to be WILD this weekend

Well, this should be fun - it is not every weekend that F1 gets a brand new circuit, and certainly not one as talked about as Spain's Madring.

Twenty-two corners, two straight mode zones, a half-kilometer banked turn and some very hard walls packed tight in around the limits of the track. Nobody is entirely sure what to expect at the Spanish Grand Prix this weekend.

We don't know how F1 cars and drivers will drive the track, we don't know how many cars we'll see getting patched up after contact with a wall (although...we think it'll be more than one), and we don't know...well, we don't know what else we don't know!

What we do know, at least, is what the track will look like. Here are some of the most important things you need to know.

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Madring by the numbers

• Lap length: 5.414km
• Number of turns: 22*
• Number of laps: 57
• Race distance: 308.399km
• Expected top speed: 340kmh/211mph

*There are 22 numbered corners, plus 5A and 20A.

A lap of the Madring

The Madring lap begins with the start-finish line pushed as far back on the home straight as it really can be, creating the longest possible run down to the first corner and first possible overtaking zone, a 90-degree left-hander which feeds right into a 90-degree left-hander, big enough to be more like a corner combination than a traditional chicane.

Expect someone to throw it up the inside there, and for the resultant fallout to push multiple cars across the run-off area on the outside of Turn 1/inside of Turn 2.

T2 transitions into the sweeping Hortaleza turn (named after a district of Madrid, get used to that) and into a 200mph+ straight run down to Turn 4, a sweeping, flat-out corner which leads into a heavy braking zone into Turns 5, 5A and 6 and into the more technically challenging part of the circuit.

F1 have described the Turn 5 braking zone as an overtaking opportunity, but Max Verstappen is among those who doesn't seem as convinced.

"The only thing that's a bit of a shame that I can see already is that a lot of the braking zones are angled," he said on a Twitch stream recently, "so you can't go for an overtake because you're braking, but you're steering either right or left, which is the worst thing you can do for creating an overtaking opportunity."

Then comes La subida de las Cárcavas - literally 'the ascent of Las Carcavas' - an 8 per cent uphill gradient into a blind apex at the crest for Turn 8, or El Bunker. You can translate that one yourselves.

This is the point at which street circuit becomes purpose built race track, coming into La Chicane (no, seriously) and into La Monumental, the heaving banked 550m right-hander which organisers insist drivers can run high or low on the banking, much like the reverse NASCAR oval the corner resembles.

In theory, that could mean some of the most spectacular overtakes in the sport, heading around the outside at full throttle. In practice, it's almost impossible to know how that'll look.

If drivers tend to favour the inside line, as expected, the outside of the corner could be covered in tyre marbles pretty quickly. It's a very brave driver who sticks it onto the marbles at full throttle around the outside.

Out of that chute and into the Valdebebas corners (another Madrid neighbourhood), leaving that section flat out into another theoretical overtaking point at Turn 17 - another spot where, as Verstappen pointed out, drivers are having to turn under braking, reducing the chances of passing.

After that, the speedy Norte (North) corner, into the final low-speed corner combination and to the final corner, El Parque (the Park).

What are all of the named corners at the Madring?

Great question! As you've seen, there are a few of them, though not as many as a track like Monza or Silverstone.

• Turn 3 is Hortaleza, named after a district of Madrid.
• Turns 6 and 7 take in La subida de las Cárcavas – literally 'the ascent of Las Carcavas'.
• Turn 8 is El Búnker (The Bunker), named because it passes by the Spanish Civil War fortifications of La Mata Espesa.
• Turns 10 and 11 are named La Chicane, for reasons which should be obvious.
• Turn 12, the most famous corner on the track by a margin, is La Monumental.
• Turns 14, 15 and 16 are Las enlazadas de Valdebebas, or the Veldebebas linked corners. Valdebebas is a neighbourhood in Madrid, and that section of the track does indeed run through it.
• Turn 19 is known as Norte, or North, as it passes in front of the North Convention Center.
• Finally, Turn 22 is El Parque, or The Park – named for the Juan Carlos I Park that is overlooks.

Where will the best overtaking opportunities be at the Madring?

Great question. The short answer is that we don't exactly know - but the corners after the two straight mode zones looks like pretty good starting points.

Drivers will have straight mode down the start-finish straight and into the left-hander at Turn 1, which might well be the best spot for a pass on the whole circuit. The braking zone is pretty much in a straight line, and there's just enough of a run to the corner to build a good slipstream.

The second straight line mode zone is on the run from Hortaleza down to Turn 4, a sweeping, flat-out right-hander which ends with a hard braking zone into the Turn 5/5A chicane - nominally an overtaking opportunity, but one which will require much of the work to be done through Turn 4 before the brakes are even touched.

We have to mention La Monumental as a potential overtaking point, although there's a good chance that it's never used as such, and the braking zone for Turn 17 could be a spot for a very brave lunge after the fast Valdebebas corner combination.

Some have touted the entry to the tight final corner combination as one last chance to make a move before the end of the lap, braking into the slow Turn 20 as the barriers close in around the track. Again, that one might take some serious nerve and a real speed delta.

Another thing to remember - the overtake mode detection point is on the entry to El Parque, and the activation line is on that final corner exit.

Who will be the first F1 race winner at the Madring?

Your guess is as good as ours.

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Written by

Chris Deeley - Editor

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