The first Formula 1 Grand Prix held at the new urban circuit in Madrid, called the Madring, is scheduled for September 11-13 2026, and works are continuing to have the new track ready. But to avoid incidents that happened in Las Vegas in 2023, when a loose drain cover damagers Carlos Sainz's Ferrari (and nearly caused a very serious accident), the circuit will first hold a race, to "test the track".
The president of the IFEMA Executive Committee, José Vicente de los Mozos (the Madrid fair and convention centre which is part of the F1 circuit) announced on Tuesday that "our idea is to hold a lower-level race before September 11th to test that the cars can handle the conditions and to avoid a repeat of what happened in Las Vegas" (vía EFE News).
The race would be national-category, and mainly used as test for the F1 Grand Prix, which will be the first in a decade, as Madrid has the contract to hold the Spanish Grand Prix until 2035. However, there will be some years where Spain will have two F1 Grand Prix, as the Barcelona circuit will continue to be part of the calendar (in the form of Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix) in 2026, 2028, 2030, and 2032.
It was also announced today that works on Madring, the new F1 circuit, are expected to be over in May 2026, and over 80,000 tickets have already been sold for the Grand Prix in September.