McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has explained why Ferrari’s early filming day at Madrid’s new Madring circuit ultimately proved useful to the rest of the Formula 1 grid, despite the test initially catching rival teams by surprise. Although the Scuderia gained valuable first-hand experience of the 2026 Spanish Grand Prix venue, onboard footage from the run was subsequently shared with its competitors.
Ferrari used one of the two filming days available to each team during the season to run at the Madring in July. The new circuit is scheduled to host Formula 1 in September, meaning the Maranello team secured an opportunity to experience the venue before the championship arrives for its inaugural race weekend. The Scuderia’s programme formed part of a tightly regulated 200-kilometre Madring filming day.
Why McLaren welcomed Ferrari’s Madring test footage
Andrea Stella acknowledged that McLaren had received no advance warning about Ferrari’s access to the new Spanish circuit. The Italian described the development as a complete surprise but explained that the availability of images and onboard video gave the other teams a useful opportunity to study the venue.
The running conditions were not fully representative of those expected during the Spanish Grand Prix. Under Formula 1’s filming-day regulations, teams must use special Pirelli demonstration tyres rather than the standard compounds available on a normal race weekend. Each promotional event is also limited to 200 kilometres of track running.
Stella noted that the Madring surface was extremely slippery and still resembled a construction site during Ferrari’s visit. Even with those limitations, however, he maintained that there were lessons to extract from the material shared with McLaren and the other teams.
The McLaren team principal suggested that the footage could be particularly helpful under the 2026 power unit regulations. Instead of beginning the race weekend with no real-world information, teams would have at least some initial benchmarks to support their simulator work and preparations.
Ferrari gained early experience of Formula 1’s new Madrid circuit
Ferrari’s decision inevitably provided Lewis Hamilton and the Italian team with an early opportunity to understand the shape and demands of the new venue. The seven-time world champion has already identified a concern about the Madring layout after sampling the circuit.
Running an actual Formula 1 car at a new track can offer information that computer simulations cannot completely reproduce, even when the tyres, grip level and overall circuit conditions differ significantly from those of a Grand Prix weekend. The benefits nevertheless remained restricted by the limited mileage and promotional nature of the event.
Other teams were also able to reduce part of Ferrari’s informational advantage once the onboard material became available. The footage offered an early indication of the circuit’s configuration, surface and driving characteristics before the field arrives in Madrid.
Andrea Stella confirms Ferrari did not break the rules
Andrea Stella also emphasised that Ferrari had operated within Formula 1’s regulations. He indicated that McLaren did not consider the event a rules violation and expected the discussion surrounding the Scuderia’s early access to disappear once every driver had completed several laps during the Spanish Grand Prix weekend.
A recent report suggested that Ferrari had made use of a regulatory grey area to gain permission to run at the Madring. Formula 1 teams are not normally allowed to conduct private testing at a new circuit, but the Maranello operation organised the event as an official filming day rather than a Testing of Previous Cars programme.
That distinction allowed the session to receive approval while keeping Ferrari within the restrictions applied to promotional running. The situation has nevertheless contributed to the debate surrounding Ferrari’s first Madring test and the potential competitive value of gaining access before the rest of the grid.
For McLaren, the most important outcome was that Ferrari’s advantage was not completely exclusive. While the Scuderia obtained valuable track time, the information shared afterwards gave its rivals material they could analyse before the Madrid event. Stella therefore accepted that Ferrari had acted legally and maintained that McLaren would quickly turn its full attention to preparing for its own race weekend.
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