Overview
- Ferrari used one of its two permitted filming days on Thursday to run the current SF-26 at Madrid’s new Madring, with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton sharing the driving and becoming the first modern F1 cars to lap the layout.
- Under Formula 1 rules the session was restricted to a maximum of 200 kilometres and required demo Pirelli tyres, limits that cap how much performance data the team can gather.
- Madring organisers invited Ferrari and are understood to have covered the costs of the visit, a move that keeps much of the expense off Ferrari’s books under F1 cost-cap accounting.
- Reports say the 5.416 km circuit surface and its 22-corner layout including the La Monumental bank are complete, but grandstands, the paddock, garages and pit lane still needed finishing and the venue requires remaining FIA checks.
- The run gives Ferrari a small but tangible head start in learning braking zones, kerbs and lines at a circuit with no prior F1 data and gives organisers a live operational test to address issues before the September 11–13 Spanish Grand Prix.