(Motorsport-Total.com) – Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso used the FIA press conference ahead of the 2026 Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid (follow all sessions here in the Formula 1 live ticker!) to take a verbal jab at Ferrari.
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When asked how he prepared for the new Madrid circuit, Alonso said: “I drove in the simulator, but maybe that’s more a question for the Ferrari drivers.”
Ferrari is actually the only team with on-site experience in Madrid: Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc already completed a filming day on the Spanish track in July, and that in the current Ferrari SF-26.
On such a filming day, teams are allowed to cover a maximum of 200 kilometers with special Pirelli demo tires. But on a new track, every lap could be crucial.
Why the Ferrari drivers don’t believe in an advantage
So is Ferrari at an advantage due to the demo laps on the Madrid circuit? “Hardly,” said Hamilton. On the Ferrari filming day, the track was “extremely dusty” and there was “absolutely no grip.” “In many corners, we didn’t even go full throttle. We also couldn’t change anything on the car because it wasn’t a test, but filming.”
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“The only advantage is that I now know in which direction the track runs. But honestly: I don’t think that gives me any advantage.”
Leclerc also did not want to overestimate the Ferrari filming day in Madrid. He only drove “a few laps” – “some of them behind a road car and I think two laps in a Formula 1 car. But there were cameras everywhere and there was a lot of dust on the track,” said Leclerc.
How the organizers classify the Ferrari demo
According to the officials in Madrid, the Ferrari laps still had a concrete benefit. A press release stated that the demo laps were an “opportunity to test the logistics and coordination required for a Formula 1 event, with Ferrari operating under conditions very close to those of a Grand Prix weekend.”
And further: “Ferrari deployed personnel and equipment to an extent corresponding to the operation of a race weekend. This allowed the organizers to review important operational processes across the entire track.”
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