With the new and controversial Madrid’s urban circuit almost ready, we’ve already seen Carlos Sainz take the first lap in Madring’s history aboard a Ford Mustang Dark Horse. Now it has been Carlos Sainz Sr., father of the driver, who has traversed the layout in a Mustang GTD and delivered the verdict: “It’s not an easy circuit to drive; it has many tricky points”.
A somewhat tricky circuit
Developed with a carbon-fiber body, a gigantic active rear wing and state-of-the-art aerodynamic solutions, we are looking at a race car, except that it is street-legal. Therefore, Ford thought there was no better habitat for its debut in the capital than the hybrid circuit (half urban, half track created for the occasion) of ‘Madring’.
Although the track is still in the preparation phase and teams are working on site—which prevented pushing to the limit the more than 800 HP of this beastly 5.2-liter supercharged V8—the day served to perform a visual study of the escape routes, the corners and the acceleration zones.
Carlos Sainz, who had already had the opportunity to explore the ground of this layout aboard a Ford F-150 Raptor before the first layer of asphalt was laid, has already delivered a verdict: it is not going to be a friendly competition: “It’s a circuit, in my view, very complicated. It will be hard, not easy to drive and it has many complex points. Also, I think it’s a layout where there will be no rest; the driver will have to be constantly working and it will be very physical. The Monumental curve, for instance, is going to be physically hard.”
And as our colleague Roberto explained, the ‘Madring’ has many winding zones and almost no long straights. In the past, it might have seemed like a circuit hostile to overtaking, but in today’s Formula 1 what you see is a lot of battery-recharge zones and straights where overtaking could be real, rather than mere attempts powered by electric horsepower on circuits that are less forgiving.
Experts believe it will be a “perfect” circuit for the new F1 cars, and in particular they insist that “the Monumental curve will be iconic”, referring to the high-banked oval corner that Madring has added to its track, a fusion between Zandvoort’s turn 4 and the famous Indianapolis oval. It promises to be the event’s iconic corner.
From September 11 to 13, the Spanish Grand Prix will be held at the IFEMA facilities, so the final preparations are already underway. And those who have been able to step on it are beginning to dispel the uncertainties about its presence.
Images | Ford
