Marco Rossi · F1-Korrespondent
With the Spanish Grand Prix at the new Madring circuit, Formula 1 writes a new chapter on September 13, while a tight Mercedes internal battle intensifies at the top of the drivers' standings.
On September 13, 2026, the Formula 1 World Championship makes its 14th stop of the season in Madrid, where the Madring marks the first entirely new Grand Prix circuit to join the calendar. For Spain, it's the first Formula 1 weekend in the capital in roughly forty years, since the top class last raced at the Jarama circuit. In the drivers' standings, Kimi Antonelli leads the table with 267 points, followed by his Mercedes teammate George Russell with a 66-point deficit and Lewis Hamilton in third with 191 points.
A Track Without History
The Madring is uncharted territory for the entire paddock. No simulation data from previous years, no experience from past races, no team with proven setup notes to fall back on. Every engineering department essentially starts from scratch this weekend, making the starting grid an open question compared to most other venues on the calendar.
That Formula 1 returns to Madrid at all is historically remarkable. Jarama was the last Spanish racing circuit outside Barcelona-Catalunya to host a Grand Prix in the eighties before the top category remained tied to the country only through the Montmeló track for decades. With the Madring, Spain now gets a second venue and a second home for its domestic motorsport.
Mercedes Against Itself
Yet the real focus of the weekend lies not in the asphalt alone, but in the championship table. Kimi Antonelli arrives in Madrid as overall leader with 267 points, a margin that has proven remarkably consistent throughout the season. His pursuer, however, is not a driver from a rival team, but his own teammate: George Russell sits 66 points back and thus closer to the top than any competitor outside Mercedes.
Lewis Hamilton rounds out the leading trio with 191 points, ensuring the title fight at this stage of the season is primarily a story about form curves within a single team. For Mercedes, that likely represents a comfortable position in the constructors' championship, yet it also brings a delicate internal balance: how much consideration a team shows its championship leader when the teammate is simultaneously the most dangerous challenger will likely become one of the more intriguing questions as the season unfolds.
Two Grand Prix, One Country
Madrid is not the only Spanish date on the calendar this season. Formula 1 was already at Barcelona-Catalunya for the seventh round of the season from June 12-14, the circuit that served as Spain's flagship race for decades. Having both venues on the calendar in the same year underscores how much the Spanish motorsport market is currently in flux, caught between the established track in Montmeló and the ambitious new facility in the capital.
For drivers and teams, the Madrid weekend means above all one thing: a blank slate that fills only when the first free practice session begins. Who adapts fastest to the new circuit will become clear only when tires first roll across fresh asphalt, and therein lies the real appeal of this Grand Prix, beyond the championship table already written.
