11–13 SEP · MADRING · ROUND 14
Spanish Grand Prix 2026 predictions
Madrid’s Madring is new, so every driver arrives with the same amount of race data: none. That makes practice worth more than usual and the grid harder to call than at any other round.
Weekend schedule
MADRID TIME- Practice 1
- Fri 11 Sept, 13:30 CEST
- Practice 2
- Fri 11 Sept, 17:00 CEST
- Practice 3
- Sat 12 Sept, 12:30 CEST
- Qualifying
- Sat 12 Sept, 16:00 CEST
- Grand Prix
- Sun 13 Sept, 15:00 CEST
There is no form guide for this one
Every other round comes with history. Somebody won here last year, some car has always suited the place, and a driver has a lap record to defend. The Madring has none of that. It is the 81st circuit to hold a Grand Prix and Formula 1 has never turned a race lap on it, so the usual shortcut of leaning on last year’s result is simply unavailable.
That cuts both ways for a prediction. Season form still means something, because a quick car is quick everywhere, but the margin that normally separates two closely matched drivers at a familiar track is guesswork here. Expect more of the field to be in play than usual, and treat a confident Top 5 built on Thursday with suspicion.
The practical answer is to wait. Friday is worth more at the Madring than anywhere else on the calendar, because it is the first real information anyone has.
- Circuit
- Madring, Madrid
- Layout
- 5.416 km, 22 corners
- Race
- 57 laps
- F1 history
- None. Debut in 2026
- Upset risk
- Higher than usual
La Monumental is a setup problem, not just a corner
Turn 12 is a 270 degree right-hander held for 547 metres on 24 percent banking, the longest corner in Formula 1. Cars are reported to take it at around 250 kph under roughly 4G of sustained compression for about two seconds, which is long enough to squash the car onto its floor. Read the corner breakdown.
That is where the prediction lives. Run the car low and it is fast everywhere but risks floor damage or a plank infringement through the banking. Run it high and the compression is safe but the rest of the lap is slower. Formula 3 cars were already touching the track there in testing, so this is a real compromise rather than a theoretical one, and every team is solving it for the first time on Friday.
Teams will not all get it right. That is worth more to a Top 5 than any lap time you see before Saturday: a car that looks quick in FP1 and then raises its ride height for the race has given something up, and one that gets the compromise right can be quicker on Sunday than Friday suggested.
- Corner
- Turn 12, La Monumental
- Length
- 547 m, 270 degrees
- Banking
- 24 percent
- Load
- About 4G for two seconds
- Decides
- Ride height, and what it costs
What to watch in practice
With no history to lean on, practice is the form guide. These are the four things worth reading before you separate two drivers.
- Friday, not Thursday
- The first laps anyone has ever run in a race car here
- This is the only new information all weekend. Nothing before it is worth much.
- Ride height changes
- Cars sitting higher in FP3 than FP1
- A team that raised the car has chosen safety through the banking over lap time.
- The tight sector
- Traction and braking around the exhibition halls
- The street-style section rewards a settled rear, and it is where a lap is lost.
- Long-run pace
- Repeatable laps rather than one flying effort
- Race picks need tyre behaviour over a stint, which a new surface makes harder to guess.
Championship form going in
Kimi Antonelli leads the drivers’ table from George Russell by 59 points. At a circuit nobody has raced, season form is the strongest signal you have on Thursday. It is also the weakest it will be all year by Saturday, once practice has told everyone something.
View full 2026 standingsDrivers
AFTER 12 ROUNDS- 1Kimi Antonelli242
- 2George Russell183
- 3Lewis Hamilton183
- 4Lando Norris159
- 5Charles Leclerc155
- 6Max Verstappen112
Common questions
When is the 2026 Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid?
The Spanish Grand Prix runs from 11 to 13 September 2026 at the Madring in Madrid. Qualifying is on Saturday and the 57-lap Grand Prix is on Sunday.
Is this the same race as the Barcelona Grand Prix?
No. 2026 has two races in Spain. Barcelona held its own round in June, and the Spanish Grand Prix title moved to Madrid for this one, which is why you will see both names used.
Has Formula 1 raced at the Madring before?
No. This is the circuit’s debut, and Madrid has not held a Grand Prix since Jarama in the 1980s. There is no previous race data for any driver or team here.
What makes the Madring hard to predict?
Nobody has a form guide. On top of that, La Monumental is a banked 547-metre corner that compresses the car hard enough to make ride height a real setup gamble, and teams are solving that for the first time on Friday.
Are other players’ picks visible before the session?
No. Picks stay private until the relevant session locks, so nobody can copy another player’s Top 5 before making their own call.
How are Spanish Grand Prix predictions scored?
An exact Top 5 position earns 5 points, one position away earns 3, and selecting a driver who finishes elsewhere in the actual Top 5 earns 1 point.
Make your Madrid picks
Choose five drivers for qualifying and five for the race. You can change them until each session locks.