• Project Formula 1 approaches Madrid: "This is like a pregnancy, it takes time"

Minutes after Formula 1. The exhibition raised the curtain in Pavilion 1 of Ifema, there was no trace of Stefano Domenicali, the CEO of the competition. "He has already left," they replied from the organization. The former Ferrari boss, head of past battles in red of Fernando Alonso, had granted some individualized interview before the inauguration, and remained in the exhibition grounds until the ribbon was officially cut.

In the front row was José Vicente de los Mozos, head of Ifema, who did not miss a detail of the explanations given from the stage by Timothy Harvey, chief curator of the exhibition, and Peter Windsor, co-creator, about that glamorous Formula 1 museum that has landed in Madrid. An arrival, by the way, that coincides with that increasingly intense, increasingly consistent noise about the advent of that grand prix in the capital. There was loud talk, bluntly, about that simmering route. Perhaps for the first time since the rumor began to take flight a few months ago.

Find out more

Economy.

The Formula 1 Grand Prix at Ifema would leave 450 million euros a year in Madrid

  • Writing: JAIME RODRÍGUEZ Madrid

The Formula 1 Grand Prix at Ifema would leave 450 million euros a year in Madrid

Despite the background surrounding that exhibition, no political figure was dropped there. Neither Isabel Díaz Ayuso, president of the Community of Madrid, nor José Luis Martínez-Almeida, mayor of the capital, who was walking through Zaragoza at that time, looked there, preventing the matter from having any political splash. Because that is one of the keys to the organization of the Madrid GP. In fact, after the unfortunate precedent in Valencia, and the problems and controversies (anthems, flags,...) of the Spanish Grand Prix, in Montmeló, the obsession is that there is no public investment. That both the canon (40 million) and the infrastructures come from private initiative. They say that two powerful companies are already appearing, aware of the ins and outs of F1, to bet heavily on this project around Ifema and Valdebebas.

"We are working for that and now they are the ones who have to approve the project," De los Mozos acknowledged yesterday, referring to Domenicali and his guys from Liberty Media, who pull the strings of F1. The secret has escaped the chest. And although no dates are set, 2026 is the year chosen for that Madrid adventure, four decades after the last appointment in the Jarama (1981) won by Gilles Villeneuve, riding his Ferrari. "Our goal is to improve Madrid's economy and bring great things that we don't have here. That is why we are working on the possibility of having a great prize", insisted the head of Ifema. "Things are going well. But this is like pregnancy: it takes time," she added.

350 pieces in the exhibition

The first big dip in Formula 1 started yesterday. He did it with a shocking exhibition where you can see for the first time a Ferrari power unit. Where the overalls and helmets of dozens of historical pilots, including Fernando Alonso, of course, and Carlos Sainz, too, look dazzling despite the years that drag some pieces. There is an immersive experience that allows you to get a small idea of what it is like to be on that asphalt that the Great Circus has been articulating for decades. And in the middle of it all, Romain Grosjean's charred Haas, from which he miraculously escaped on that night in Bahrain in 2020. There are 350 pieces in total, from different eras, that give meaning to The Exhibition. By the way, there are still none from Aston Martin, which (correctly) prioritized the development of its car.

But, of course, the eyes pierced the walls of the pavilion yesterday. And they focused on that environment that, before long, will become one of the most glamorous corners of the Formula 1 World Championship. "It will be a luxury race," they sigh around that project that he already has in his hands and studies the organization. With that economic impact in Madrid of 450 million euros per year, according to the audits of the promoters to which GRAN MADRID had access. That atmosphere of optimism was breathed yesterday one step away from what will be the future circuit.

According to The Trust Project criteria

Learn more

  • Fernando Alonso
  • Articles Carlos Guisasola
  • Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida
  • Isabel Diaz Ayuso