F1 drivers push for Madring changes after "very poor" Spanish GP: "I almost fell asleep"

The Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix played out exactly as most drivers had feared. Max Verstappen said on Saturday that he could not see a single overtaking opportunity and added when speaking to the Dutch media, "Just give me the track map", to indicate that he would make numerous changes.

On Sunday, overtaking did indeed prove virtually impossible, making the mood in the paddock clear after the race: the Madring is entertaining over one flying lap, certainly from the drivers’ perspective, but the entertainment value of the race was particularly low.

When Autosport points out that many in the media centre almost fell asleep during the first race around the IFEMA complex, Gabriel Bortoleto responds: “I almost fell asleep as well!”

Even race winner Kimi Antonelli shared that view. The championship leader enjoyed qualifying, but not the race.

"It definitely doesn’t create overtaking opportunities and it doesn’t push you to try and make a move, because 80% of the time you might have contact," said the Mercedes driver after the race. 

"I think especially in the second chicane, if I would have turned in there, me and Lando would have touched and probably gone into the wall and blocked the road. It definitely wouldn’t have been nice.

"So, I think there are some corners that need to be changed to create more overtaking opportunities, because right now, yes, it’s nice over one lap, but for sure in the race you’re just stuck behind."

Antonelli states that overtaking manoeuvres in Madrid will usually end in a crash

Photo by: Clive Mason / Getty Images

The drivers had already seen that coming beforehand, especially as the designers had not asked them for input in advance. Verstappen explained that this only happened in Jeddah after the track proved dangerous in its first year, but not with new circuits such as the Madring.

For the future, drivers would like to see that change. That includes Haas' Oliver Bearman, who crashed heavily in third practice on Saturday and missed qualifying.

"You only have to look at the layout, and it's quite clear that it's going to be a poor track for racing", Bearman said when asked by Autosport about the lack of overtakes.

"I mean, when you arrive and you see that layout, you're like, what do you expect us to do? It's a bit of a shame."

According to him, there are two factors behind this, making attacking very difficult and defending too easy.

"Not only do you have a lot of long combined exits where it's really tough to put power down, but you have a lot of combined entries as well. It's very easy to drive a bit dangerously defending your position and, therefore, very hard to send an overtake.

"We already said that to the FIA on Friday and we need to look into a way to make the track a bit more interesting for us, because it's interesting to drive for sure, but in the race it's very poor."

Verstappen had already said on Saturday that he couldn’t see any opportunities to overtake

Photo by: Peter Fox / Getty Images

What Bearman had already seen from the layout was quickly confirmed during the race weekend in the junior categories, Alex Albon concludes.

"I hope there's open-mindedness to make some track changes for next year,' the Williams driver said. "I mean, if the F3 cars can't overtake, then you know there's going to be no overtaking the whole weekend.

"I think there only needs to be a couple of changes to fix the problem. Otherwise, honestly, it's not a bad track. It's quite a fun track to drive, just like you saw in the races, it's pretty boring."

Three areas to improve at the Madring for 2027

While Albon says relatively minor changes are needed for 2027, the drivers have already shared several suggestions during the weekend – starting with the Williams driver himself.

"A lot of it is around Turn 3 to Turn 5. I think that whole area needs to be redone, maybe straighter braking zones. We need to remove that chicane. It's good for spectacle, but it's not good for racing", Albon said.

"And I think the banking, as great as it is, it's not really doing a good enough job in Turn 13. Turn 13 maybe needs to be a slower corner, a bigger braking zone."

Aside from the fact that the chicane formed by Turns 5 and 6 is bad for racing, Bortoleto also felt another problem on Sunday.

"Just the jump in T5, to do that 50 laps, you get quite a lot of headache at the end of the race. So, it's not the easiest one for our body", the Audi driver said.

According to the drivers, turns 5 and 6 in particular need to be changed, although Albon says the banking isn’t helping enough either

Photo by: Michael Potts / LAT Images via Getty Images

Apart from the section around Turn 5 – where drivers see most of the problems – Lando Norris also has a suggestion for the final sector of the circuit.

"I think there are some obvious changes they should make. They should get rid of Turn 18, 19, useless. Just have more of a straight into a hairpin. I don’t know how someone looks at this design and goes, ‘Mint.’ Yeah, I think there’s a lot of opportunity."

That change would remind the reigning world champion of what he considers a good example: the Circuit of the Americas.

"To me, it’s not a great racetrack. It’s great in qualifying, but, you know, a straight line from 17 straight to 20 [would help], to have a much wider entry like Austin Turn 1 or Turn 10, a big hairpin. You’ll create much better opportunities for everyone and you’ll be able to enjoy the race.

"There are some simple changes and maybe some trickier ones, like Turn 5, 6, 7. It’s hard to know exactly what is the best thing. The fact you have to turn and brake basically defeats the whole object of racing. So, they can do some simple changes, I think, easy changes and maybe some trickier changes, but I hope they do it because then it should be more exciting for everyone."

In addition to Turns 5-6 and 18-19, the drivers are also pushing for another change: a shorter pitlane, to encourage additional stops and create more strategic variation.