2026 Spanish GP in Madrid sells 48,500 tickets as ‘MadRing’ hype explodes

The 2026 Spanish Grand Prix, which will be held at the new MadRing circuit in Madrid, has already sold 48,500 tickets since the pre-sale began on 15 September, according to Marca.

The street race will be set around the IFEMA MADRID exhibition centre fairgrounds and the north-east of the capital city. It will feature 22 corners across the 5.47km (3.4 mile) layout, including La Monumental at Turn 12, which will be a 550-metre 24% banked bend.

Of the 48,500 tickets sold, 20,000 were purchased in 12 hours, and the two cheapest areas, the pelouse and grandstand sections, were sold out in a few minutes.

"The Spanish Grand Prix, which is at everyone's service. In just a few weeks, it has already sold more than 45,000 tickets and raised more than 25 million euros. Something never seen before for a Formula 1 grand prix," Isabel Díaz Ayuso, president of the Community of Madrid, said at the Forum Europa meeting.

Carlos Sainz was announced as a circuit ambassador of the MadRing in April 2025. The Williams driver explained at the time that he had reassured the other drivers that the circuit would have a lot of character.

"The drivers have asked me about the circuit, the corners, the layout... I've told them not to worry, that I'm going to try to help as much as possible to make the circuit a good show," Sainz said.

"What I ask of an F1 circuit as a driver is that it has charisma and character, that it has a lot of corners that make it different.

Carlos Sainz, Williams

Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images

"There are circuits like Baku, which has no major corners beyond the castle section, but it has character, because it's very long straights, there's a lot of overtaking, it's spectacular.

"There is Jeddah, which is all fast corners and also spectacular. They're all urban circuits, but they've managed to have character.

"And what I ask of MadRing and what we are achieving is that it has that character between being a hybrid circuit, with an urban area with the walls very close and then that more open part, more like a traditional European circuit, which is what we drivers like the most.

"The final part, the banked corners and fast corner sequences... it's more what we like and what we see at the traditional European circuits. And this circuit has both, it has the open area and the more closed area of the walls."