Ferrari may arrive at Formula 1’s new Madring circuit with a small head start after Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc completed a 200 km filming day at the Madrid venue, according to McLaren team principal Andrea Stella. The unexpected appearance gave the Scuderia an early opportunity to gather basic references at a circuit the rest of the grid has yet to experience in Formula 1 machinery.
Hamilton and Leclerc shared the Ferrari SF-26 during the promotional running, using the full 200 km permitted under the regulations. Although filming days are tightly restricted and are not designed to function as conventional tests, Stella acknowledged that even limited mileage could provide Ferrari with some useful information before the Spanish Grand Prix takes place on 13 September.
Ferrari’s Madring filming day surprised McLaren
McLaren had not been told in advance that Ferrari intended to run at Madring. Stella explained that the session therefore came as a surprise, although some filming footage was subsequently made available to the other teams.
The circumstances were far removed from a normal Formula 1 test. Filming days require teams to use Pirelli demonstration tyres, while test equipment is not permitted. Those restrictions are intended to minimise the possibility of teams gaining a meaningful competitive advantage from promotional mileage.
Stella also pointed out that the circuit conditions would have been particularly unrepresentative because Madring is still effectively a construction site. He expected the surface to have been extremely slippery, further limiting how much Ferrari could learn about outright car performance or set-up.
Even so, the McLaren team principal accepted that there is still value in being the first Formula 1 team to drive the new venue. The Scuderia now has real-world references from the circuit rather than having to begin entirely from assumed data when preparations intensify for the race weekend.
What Ferrari could learn from 200 km at Madring
One area Stella highlighted was the opportunity to establish initial references with the 2026 power unit. Even with unsuitable tyres and poor track conditions, Ferrari has now gathered information from an actual SF-26 running around the layout, rather than relying solely on theoretical inputs.
That does not mean the Italian team has conducted a full competitive test. The regulatory restrictions remain significant, and Stella characterised any benefit as potentially small rather than decisive.
The importance is therefore more about familiarity than outright performance. Hamilton and Leclerc have already experienced the direction changes, braking zones and general rhythm of the circuit from inside a Formula 1 car, while Ferrari engineers have seen how the current package behaves around the new layout under the limited conditions available.
Fans can find Madring’s place on the 2026 Formula 1 calendar, with the Spanish Grand Prix scheduled as the 16th round of the season.
Madring prepares for first Formula 1 race in September
The new circuit has been built around Madrid’s IFEMA exhibition centre and measures roughly 5.4 kilometres, with around 20 corners. Its debut will mark Formula 1’s return to the Spanish capital for the first time since the championship raced at Jarama in 1981.
The venue will host its inaugural Spanish Grand Prix on 13 September, making the early Ferrari mileage particularly notable as teams prepare for a completely unfamiliar race weekend. More background on the venue is available in the Madring circuit guide and Spanish Grand Prix history.
Stella nevertheless expects Ferrari’s early advantage to disappear quickly once the full grid begins running. He indicated that, after only a few laps during the actual Grand Prix weekend, rival teams should have gathered enough genuine track data for the filming-day benefit to become largely irrelevant.
For McLaren, there is therefore no suggestion that Ferrari has done anything outside the rules. Stella made clear that the session was fully permitted and appreciated having access to onboard footage from the new track. His assessment was simply that the Maranello team may begin the weekend with a few extra references before the rest of Formula 1 rapidly catches up.
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