It has taken forty-five years for Madrid to once again host its own F1® Grand Prix, and it’s doing so on a track that no one has ever raced on before: the Madring Circuit. Brand-new turns, a street circuit designed to put the world’s best drivers to the test, and a capital city preparing to experience, once again, the excitement of F1®.
11 September 2026 10:00
Who’s Who at the Spanish Grand Prix
The historic giants lead the pack: Ferrari, Mercedes, and Red Bull arrive with the experience of teams that have already won on the world’s most demanding circuits, although none of the three has yet raced at Madring Circuit. Right behind them are the hungry contenders: McLaren and Aston Martin, determined to fight for the lead, and Williams and Alpine, looking to build on their progress in an increasingly tight championship.
Racing Bulls and Haas round out the field with young teams that never cease to surprise race after race, while Audi solidifies its presence among the giants of world motorsports. Special mention goes to the season’s big newcomer: Cadillac, which is competing in its first season in the premier class, adding its name to the list of teams vying for glory in Madrid.
- Ferrari: Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton
- McLaren: Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri
- Aston Martin: Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso
- Williams: Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz
- Red Bull: Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar
- Audi: Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto
- Alpine: Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto
- Racing Bulls: Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad
- Cadillac: Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas
- Haas: Oliver Bearman and Esteban Ocon
- Mercedes: Kimi Antonelli and George Russell
Ferrari
Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc form one of the most talked-about duos on the grid: the combined experience of seven world titles—more than any other driver in the series’ history—paired with a driver who has been fighting for his own title for years. Hamilton is best known for being the driver with the most wins in Formula 1® history, a record that not even the most seasoned veterans in the paddock have managed to match.
Leclerc, for his part, is recognized as one of the fastest drivers in qualifying: he has racked up 27 pole positions throughout his career (pole position is the top spot on the starting grid, achieved by being the fastest in Saturday’s qualifying session), though he is still seeking his first victory in the Drivers’ Championship. Ferrari arrives at the Madrid Circuit under the usual pressure—that of a team that knows nothing but victory.
Mercedes
George Russell and Kimi Antonelli make up the driver lineup for Mercedes, one of Formula 1®’s most historic teams: the German brand has been competing in the series, in various forms, since the 1950s, when drivers like Juan Manuel Fangio led it to its first world titles. Over the past decade, Mercedes has also become one of the most successful teams of the modern era, with eight consecutive titles between 2014 and 2021—a streak no other team has matched.
Russell has been in the seriesfor several seasons, with six victories to his credit, while the much younger Antonelli is experiencing his first years at the highest level. In his first full season, he’s already secured a podium finish—a preview of what’s expected of him in this Grand Prix and in the years to come.
Red Bull
Red Bull is one of the most successful teams of the past decade: Max Verstappen has been world champion four times in a row, from 2021 to 2024. This season, he’s joined by Isack Hadjar, who comes over from Racing Bulls after a rookie year marked by a much-discussed crash at the start of the Australian Grand Prix. He bounced back just a few weeks later with a podium finish at the Dutch Grand Prix, a result that earned him a promotion to the main team for 2026, replacing Yuki Tsunoda.
McLaren
McLaren arrives as the team in the best form on the grid: it won the Constructors’ World Championship for the second consecutive season in 2025 (the title awarded to the best team of the year, based on the combined points of its two drivers). Lando Norris was crowned Drivers’ World Champion for the first time, with just a two-point lead over Max Verstappen in the final race of the year in Abu Dhabi. His teammate , Oscar Piastri, finished third, 13 points behind the title.
At the Italian Grand Prix, the team even asked them to swap positions in the middle of the race to split the points between them—a decision that sparked a lot of debate among fans.
Aston Martin
Aston Martin features Fernando Alonso, a two-time world champion (2005 and 2006) with 32 Grand Prix victories—the seventh-highest total in Formula 1® history. At 43, he is one of the most veteran drivers on the grid: he made his debut in 2001 and continues to compete more than two decades later. In his first race with Aston Martin, in Bahrain in 2023, he already made it onto the podium. He is also the source of one of the most oft-repeated phrases among fans:“Fernando is faster than you”—the message his engineer sent him over the radio in the middle of the race, which became an internet classic.
This summer, Alonso is taking time to reflect on his future in the series, though he himself has made it clear that his decision won’t depend on the car’s performance in 2026, but rather on whether he still feels competitive and passionate about continuing to race.
Joining them is Lance Stroll, son of the team owner. He made his debut in 2017 at age 18 and, in his second race, became the youngest driver to reach the podium in his debut season after finishing third at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. In 2020, he secured his only pole position to date during a rain-soaked qualifying session at the Turkish Grand Prix.
Williams
Williams is one of the oldest teams in Formula 1®, with nine Constructors’ Championships to its credit. It features Carlos Sainz, a Madrid native who will finally race in his first “home” Grand Prix, and Alex Albon, who has become the team’s standout driver in recent seasons.
Sainz has already tested the Madring Circuit and was the first driver to do so: speaking of La Monumental—the longest banked turn on the calendar—he highlighted the change in gradient at the exit, where he said you can barely see anything but the Madrid sky. In fact, one of the circuit’s grandstands will bear his name, a tribute to the only Madrid-born driver on the grid as he makes his home debut. In 2025, Williams achieved its best result since 2017, with Sainz finishing on the podium twice.
Alpine
Alpine is the French team of the Renault Group, although until 2021 it competed under the Renault name: it was with that team that Fernando Alonso won his two world titles, in 2005 and 2006, before the brand decided to rename the team Alpine. Today , Pierre Gasly leads the team , with Franco Colapinto as his teammate. This year, for the first time, Colapinto is tackling the full season as a full-time driver starting with the first Grand Prix, having secured his seat in advance.
In 2025, things were different: Alpine decided to replace its then-starting driver, Jack Doohan—who had failed to score any points—mid-season, and Colapinto, who until then had been a reserve driver, took his seat. The Argentine had just made his Formula 1® debut with Williams in 2024, a team with a car very different from Alpine’s, so he had to learn to drive the new car practically on the fly. Even so, he gradually gained ground on Gasly in qualifying over the course of several races, which ultimately convinced the team to renew his contract for 2026.
Cadillac
Cadillac is the big new addition this season: it’s making its debut in the premier class with Sergio “Checo” Pérez and Valtteri Bottas, two veteran drivers returning to the grid after a year away.
Pérez raced for Red Bull until 2024, winning several Grand Prix races and standing on the podium more than thirty times, before leaving Formula 1® in 2025. Bottas was a Mercedes main driver for five seasons before transitioning to a reserve role in 2025. Together, they bring more than 20 years of combined experience—a rarity for a team starting from scratch.
Racing Bulls
Racing Bulls presents a revamped duo featuring Liam Lawson and rookie Arvid Lindblad, just 18 years old, who is making the direct jump from Formula 2.
Haas
Haas introduces Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman. Bearman made an unexpected entry into Formula 1®: in 2024, while serving as a Ferrari reserve driver, he had to replace Carlos Sainz overnight at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after the Spaniard underwent emergency surgery for appendicitis. At just 18 years old, he became the youngest driver in Ferrari’s history to make his debut and finished that race in seventh place. That last-minute debut opened the doors for him to join Haas as a full-time driver starting in 2025, where he now competes alongside Ocon, a much more experienced driver who entered Formula 1® in 2016 and has raced for teams such as the former Renault and Alpine.
Audi
Audi, for its part, is facing its first season as a standalone team (until now it competed under the Sauber name) with Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto. Hülkenberg was the star of one of the most emotional stories of 2025: he claimed his first Formula 1® podium after 239 Grand Prix races without one—a historic record for the longest wait. He celebrated with borrowed champagne, since his own team didn’t even have a bottle ready for the occasion.
11 September 2026 10:00