Charles Leclerc believes overtaking could prove extremely difficult in the first Spanish Grand Prix at Madring, with several Formula 1 drivers raising concerns that track position may become one of the decisive factors in Sunday’s race. After three practice sessions and qualifying on Madrid’s new circuit, the feared disorder witnessed during earlier Formula 3 running has not materialised in Formula 1, but a different problem is now attracting attention.
The layout has passed its first major competitive tests without the level of chaos some had anticipated before the weekend. However, drivers including Charles Leclerc, Fernando Alonso, Yuki Tsunoda, Oscar Piastri, George Russell and Alexander Albon have all questioned how easy it will be to race closely and complete overtaking moves. That concern adds another dimension to an already demanding Madring layout that drivers approached with considerable uncertainty before Formula 1’s first competitive sessions.
Charles Leclerc fears a Monaco-style Spanish GP at Madring
For Charles Leclerc, the risk is that Sunday develops into something resembling a second Monaco, with cars circulating in line and relatively few opportunities to change position through conventional overtaking. The Ferrari driver expects passing to be difficult and therefore believes the race start will carry particular importance.
Leclerc also identified tyre behaviour as another factor that could reshape the race. He explained that degradation would play an important role and pointed to the amount of front-end damage noticed during practice. Ferrari will therefore need to understand whether that situation improves in race conditions. If it does not, the Monegasque expects tyre management to become one of the central challenges of the Grand Prix.
That combination is particularly important because limited overtaking places extra value on qualifying position and the opening lap. If drivers struggle to pass cars with similar pace, strategy and tyre degradation can become some of the few realistic ways to gain ground once the field settles.
Fernando Alonso expects a difficult recovery after Q1 exit
Fernando Alonso faces an even more complicated task after being eliminated in Q1. The Aston Martin driver indicated that simply reaching the finish would be his first objective, joking about the scale of the challenge before acknowledging that overtaking is likely to be difficult.
The two-time world champion nevertheless has not ruled out opportunities developing during the race. Looking at what happened in Formula 2 and Formula 3, Alonso noted that Madring had not proved particularly straightforward for overtaking. His hope is that incidents or disruption further ahead could create opportunities, with Aston Martin needing to capitalise if the race becomes unpredictable.
The first Madrid weekend has already highlighted how little previous racing data Formula 1 teams have at the venue. The 2026 Spanish Grand Prix at Madring represents a completely new strategic challenge, leaving teams to build their understanding of overtaking, tyre behaviour and race evolution almost entirely during the event itself.
Yuki Tsunoda says qualifying carries extra importance
Yuki Tsunoda, racing for Racing Bulls this weekend, also highlighted how the shortage of overtaking opportunities increases the significance of Saturday’s result. He described the situation as frustrating because qualifying becomes particularly important when recovering positions during the Grand Prix is expected to be so difficult.
Oscar Piastri and George Russell have also expressed concerns over how straightforward it will be to pass around the new circuit, adding to a growing consensus that Sunday could be very different from a race on a conventional venue with several clear overtaking zones.
Alexander Albon explains why defending could be easy
Alexander Albon offered one of the clearest explanations for the concern. The Williams driver would have preferred different braking-zone designs rather than the angled approach used in parts of the Madring layout. He also highlighted the number of combined corners, where one turn flows directly into another and positioning the car correctly can deny a rival a realistic route past.
From Albon’s perspective, those characteristics could make defending particularly straightforward. A driver protecting a position may simply be able to place the car around the middle of the available track, leaving the following car without enough space to attempt a move.
That is a very different concern from the pre-weekend focus on crashes and red flags. Before cars took to the circuit, much of the attention surrounded the close barriers, unfamiliar braking points and the possibility of interruptions. Now that Formula 1 has completed practice and qualifying, the discussion has shifted towards whether the layout can produce sustained wheel-to-wheel racing.
Ferrari faces a race where the start and tyre management could decide everything
For Ferrari, the overtaking question places even greater emphasis on the opening stages of the race. Charles Leclerc’s assessment makes the start particularly significant: positions gained before the field settles could be considerably harder to recover later if passing opportunities prove as limited as drivers expect.
Tyre management could provide another route to changing the order. If the front-end problems observed in practice continue and degradation becomes significant, differences in tyre condition and strategy may create opportunities that the circuit layout itself does not naturally provide.
The Madring has already presented teams with a broad technical challenge, one reason Ferrari had hoped the SF-26 could be better suited to Madrid than Monza. Raceability, however, represents a separate question from outright car performance.
The early fear of a chaotic Formula 1 debut has not been realised through practice and qualifying. Sunday will answer the next major question surrounding Madrid’s new venue: whether the combination of angled braking zones, linked corners and limited passing space creates a tactical race shaped by starts, tyres and strategy, or whether the drivers can find more overtaking opportunities than they currently expect.
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