MADRID – After more than forty years, Formula 1 will return to Madrid with a Grand Prix in 2026. The agreement for a street circuit in the Spanish capital is expected to be officially announced next week.
Rumors persist in all media that F1 will present the Madrid GP in Ifema on January 23. The president of the region, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, does not deny this. In her year-end speech on New Year’s Eve, she said: “There will be an announcement about F1 on January 23.” This announcement was also confirmed on Tuesday by Mayor José Luis Martínez Almeida.
Sports newspaper Marca writes that it is still unknown whether the next Grand Prix of Madrid or Spain will start in the capital in 2026 or 2027, as Barcelona is still under contract with the Cicruit de Catalunya for that year and there should be an agreement to change that. Formula 1 would rather not have two races in Spain.
4 billion in 10 years
The contract would initially run for ten seasons. Per edition, there would be an annual economic impact of approximately €400 million. This would leave Formula 1 indirectly with more than €4 billion in Madrid. It is one of the most global sports, with approximately 210 million people watching each televised Grand Prix, approximately 140 via television, and another 70 via the F1 TV platform on the official website.
Ayuso: “A great illusion”
The President of the Community of Madrid said at a meeting with the media on Tuesday: “The dream and the illusion are such that there is no government or country that could reject such a project”, although she calls for caution “until it is certain.”
City circuit with covered area
The headquarters of the urban circuit with the pits and the straight will be in Ifema. The presentation will also be held here next Tuesday, January 23. Personalities are said to have already been summoned to the event where Díaz Ayuso herself, the mayor, José Luis Martínez Almeida, and predictably the CEO of F1, Stefano Domenicali, will be present.
“No euros of public money”
Ayuso emphasised that the arrival of Formula 1 in Madrid will not cost a euro of public money. “That is why we have promised that we will do everything in our power and provide the best facilities so that the project survives and is consolidated as the best circuit in the world,” she noted.
The last Formula 1 race in Madrid took place in 1981. Since then the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona has hosted the Spanish Grand Prix.
