Organisers of Formula 1’s Spanish Grand Prix revealed the track layout of the Madring, the new circuit set to host the race from 2026 onwards, on Friday. Feeder Series spoke to three F2 team principals about the new Madrid circuit and the prospect of further calendar expansions.

By Calla Kra-Caskey

The Madring is expected to join the F1 calendar in 2026 and host the Spanish Grand Prix for years to come. As was announced last December, F2 and F3 also have a contract to compete in Madrid from 2026 to 2035. 

The current host of the Spanish Grand Prix, the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, has a contract with F1 for 2026 as well, but Barcelona’s place on the F1 and consequently F2 grid beyond next year is uncertain. Barcelona has hosted an F2 round in every year of the series’ existence save for 2021, when F2 and F3 did not race on the same circuits. The track is also a popular location for pre-season and in-season testing. 

“Particularly for us going to Madrid, obviously being Spanish it’s something very nice,” Campos Racing team principal Adrián Campos Jr told Feeder Series. “Hopefully it’s not replacing Barcelona so hopefully we can have two races in Spain next year and in the future.”

While Madrid is closest to the base of Campos, F2 and F3’s only Spanish team, the location is also a positive for British unit Invicta Racing. 

“It’s important to make the distinction between a European and a flyaway race, a non-European race, and the different economic realities that they impose,” team principal James Robinson said. “So the European races, for those to be added onto the calendar, they’re relatively easy.”

All three team principals mentioned wanting to account for schedule demands and budgets when discussing possible changes in the F2 calendar. 

“I don’t know if it will be an extra round or a replacement, but I think from our side 14 is quite a nice number. For sure it keeps us busy during the year,” MP Motorsport team principal Sander Dorsman said. “If there’s any reason to add one more, I fully trust that Bruno makes the right decision on that.”

“In [previous years] we came to 14 [races] and it’s obviously very important to keep the budget as low as possible, so I agree with Sander we would like to stay with 14. But at the end, we will of course go ahead with the decision that is taken,” Campos added.

“We have to keep the budgets as low as possible, and as long as we do that, then I’m personally all for expanding the calendar a little bit,” Robinson said. “I think it would be nicer for us again if the economics will work, that’s again always the most important thing, but to expand our coverage a little bit more widely outside of just Europe and [the Middle East].”

Expanding the calendar would have a bigger ‘human impact’ in F2 than in F1 given the smaller size of the F2 teams, Robinson said. 

“We don’t have a specialist logistics team that come in and set up the motorhome and garage and then wait around for three or four days until they come in and dismantle,” he said. “Mechanics, engineers, team principals, they’re doing everything even when it comes to set up and pack up because we’re limited [to] 12 operational staff.

“European races are relatively easy and easier to service than the flyaways. That being said, the flyaways are a really nice thing for us to have in terms of being a world championship. … Obviously there’s a logistical impact, but with these flyaway races, because the promoter has to cover a lot of the cost, economically speaking they’re not too arduous on us even compared to a European race.” 

The 2025 F2 season began with a flyaway round in Australia, but the feature race was cancelled because of rain and is not set to be rescheduled. Despite those risks, Robinson hopes for an expansion to the Americas. 

“Obviously we are owned by an American company, and so we would love to have some racing on the American continent,” Robinson said about Invicta Racing’s parent company, the Florida-based Invicta Watch Group.

“That would be really nice and that would be a great spectacle and great thing for F1 to achieve. Again, there are lots of practical and logistical and importantly financial reasons to bear in mind as we consider that, but those sorts of things would be interesting for us to see, certainly as a team.” 

Additional reporting by Martin Lloyd

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency