The Race F1 Podcast
Elevation changes and an 'iconic' corner - Why Madrid's F1 track should be a hit
17 Jun 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The Athletic. The race is on, and with the renamed Barcelona-Catalina race in the rearview mirror, we're visiting F1's newest track, the Madring, which takes over the Spanish Grand Prix in September. But is the circuit any good? And is the Bankla Monumental corner going to be great, or just a gimmick? I'm Ed Straw, and joining me on location are John Noble and Diego Mejia. Diego, welcome back.
We haven't had you on a podcast for too long, but you were loitering around the area and you seemed ideal because unlike us who didn't see this track for the first time until yesterday, you've seen it quite regularly. You've seen it evolve.
Yeah, thanks for the invite, Ed and Jan. It's great to be with you guys again. Yeah, as you will say, I live in Madrid. I've been based here for a few years, so I came for the first time to IFEMA, this expo place when they brought the F1X position that's going around the world.
Chapter 2: What makes Madrid's Madring track unique in F1?
That's the first thing that they did here way before there was... serious talk about having a Grand Prix here. And it's been like 74 weeks, like less than 600 days since the first stone was placed until the Grand Prix day, basically. So it's a very short time frame. It has gone by very quickly. They've had many challenges, especially the weather. There's been a lot of rainfall recently.
in the early part of the year, at the end of last year as well, and that has put back a lot of the work, especially on the racetrack. And as you could see, there's still plenty of work to be done around the track, but it looks now like a racetrack.
Yeah, lots to be done, John, but it's pretty impressive, isn't it? It's always good to come to a track like this, and the reason we've come straight after the Barcelona... Catalina-Barcelona Grand Prix? Barcelona-Catalina, terrible name.
Anyway, it's all about the Spanish Grand Prix, but it makes sense for us to come because we're three months out, so it's a good chance to see F1's newest circuit and get a real taste of the place.
Yeah, I think it's very, very difficult to get a proper judgment of a circuit, just looking at the track map and watching some computer simulations.
The first one was awful.
Even the driver was awful. So you can't really understand... You know, the dynamics of the corners, what's it going to look like? And I think one of the core elements, I think, of a good racetrack has always been elevation. Some of the greatest circuits, some of the greatest corners have all got elevation. It just adds a dynamic to a race circuit you can't see from a track map.
And I was surprised to hear, actually, how much elevation there is when you... The first section, when you climb to the top of the hill up to Turn 8 and Turn 9, it's going to be a spectacular corner for it. Drops down into the back section. It's very high. Beautiful way of looking into the distance.
And it's the kind of view that somewhere like Spa, you go, wow, that's amazing, all this big elevation. So, yeah, I mean, it's not... Not every corner is fantastic. There are some elements, especially around here, that are much more modern street circuit, 90 degree corners, concrete barriers and straight lines.
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Chapter 3: How does elevation impact the racing experience at the Madring?
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Well, now we're going to talk a little bit about the trademark of the circuit. We'll come to you first, Diego, because you'll have the best accent for pronouncing it. But it's the bank corner, La Monumental. How's that?
Very good. Perfect. Yeah, you got the accent right there. Yeah, it's a very different corner to anything we've seen. I mean, obviously... We have the two bank corners in Zandvoort, but this is way longer. And especially when we went yesterday to watch from Turn 8, you could see that it actually goes uphill, you know?
The entry is at a lower level, and then it goes uphill, and then when you step there, you see it's a completely blind exit, and it looks now way narrower than before because they have put the barriers on the right side. They have put temporary barriers on the left side, but you can get a little bit of a...
more better idea of what it's going to be like when Carlos did his lap that was on social media there were no no barriers but now you get more of a feel of how wide or how not very wide the track will be but yeah the the corner is quite special they claim there could be like three different lines for it probably the drivers will sort out the best one And everybody will follow.
But, yeah, I've heard different versions about the speeds that they are going to get there. Because Carlos was saying today that it could be flat out before that. I mean, a few weeks before, he wasn't saying that. When he did the lap in this Mustang, he wasn't saying it was going to be flat. And he obviously had to lift and he was recording. He had to do all the save.
But, yeah, I'm interested to find out how quick it's going to be.
Yeah, that's going to be the thing we're really looking at, isn't it, John, on Friday when practice starts, because even though they'll build up their simulations, the track will have been scanned, so it'll be pretty accurate, and they'll have measured the track surface.
It's only really for a new track, when real cars get onto it, that some of those little tricks, the techniques... I always remember watching at Zandvoort the first year that we went back, particularly Turn 3, with the really steep banking, it's much shorter tracks,
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Chapter 4: What challenges did the construction of the Madring face?
The elevation change, the compression, the lines at the top just...
getting it slightly wrong so even if money monumental is not um a massive challenge if even if it is flat i think the very fact you could see formula one cars looking fantastic through a bank corner looking spectacular shooting past you i think will more than make up for it doesn't have necessarily have to be a a complex corner and there's probably a
I'm sure if you spoke to drivers and asked what is the most challenging, complex, technical corner in Formula 1, probably you'd end up in a consensus of a strange second or third gear corner somewhere that nobody ever goes to watch at.
And I also think that there's a lot of talk and there's a lot of interest about La Monumental. But I think there are other great corners around the track, especially after La Monumental. You get a quick section of corners left and right that Carlos mentioned that he liked a lot when he tested on the touring car.
So I think there's more than La Monumental to this track that will enhance the spectacle.
Yeah, well, we'll certainly get into a few of the other bits of the track in the final part of the podcast. In fact, for members of the Race Members Club, so hit the link in the episode description if you want to find out more about the Race Members Club. Or head to Patreon and search for The Race. Diego gave us a track guide with the help of a big...
track map on the wall which was very very useful and then me and john had a chat and we've done various bits and pieces that will be uh appearing in the race members club so we've definitely made the most of it in terms of being here that's what we do with the race members club we do extra and we take you onto the scene a little bit more thriving community we do our in car insights podcast so check out the link to find out more about that
Let's talk about a few other parts of the track I must admit one I quite like Diego was the I think I want to say it's in turn eight it's one of the the sort of fast chicanes before you get to La Monumental where it's got the uphill approach so you're kind of committing to the braking and and the entry before you can see the corner that one looks like quite a it'll take a little bit of time for drivers to get in tune with that and really carry the speed in and through it.
Yeah, probably. And I think Carlos Sainz also mentioned that it's a blind place as well. Like the exit of La Monumental, it's completely blind. And it's going to be where his fans are going to be, because that's the place he chose from the whole track, where the grandstand for Carlos Sainz's fans will be. It's got the best view of the whole infield section, if we can call it like that. It's...
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