Jaime Rodríguez Madrid
Madrid
Updated Monday, March 11, 2024-7:01 p.m.
The Government of
Pedro Sánchez
claims to have not received any official information about the plan to host a
Formula 1
test in Madrid starting in 2026, which was publicly presented by the mayor, José Luis Martínez Almeida, and by the regional president, Isabel Díaz. Ayuso, and refers to what he has seen in the media in this regard.
PP deputies
Mercedes Cantalapiedra and Javier Merino
asked the coalition government if it intended to support it and in their response, to which Europa Press has had access, the Executive claims to not know anything officially about that initiative.
However, the Minister of Education and Sports, Pilar Alegría, and her Secretary of State and president of the Higher Sports Council, José Manuel Rodríguez
Uribes
, have held meetings in recent weeks with those responsible for Ifema.
In these meetings, both
Stefano Domenicali,
CEO of F1, and
José Vicente de los Mozos
, president of the fair institution, reported on the status of the project.
On January 23, F1 confirmed that Madrid would hold the Spanish Grand Prix starting in 2026, changing the venue from Montmeló to the semi-urban circuit that will be built around the pavilions of the fairgrounds and some land in Valdebebas.
Promoted by
Ifema
and with the support of the Community of Madrid and the City Council, the capital managed to convince F1 to take over one of the sought-after places on the World Cup calendar.
This year's test and that of 2025 will be held in Barcelona, but its continuity beyond is very much up in the air.
That there are two Spanish
races
in the championship seems utopian, nowadays.
No government representative attended the official presentation of the race on January 23.
The ministers were not invited - as is the usual trend in recent times, due to the confrontation between Ayuso's Executive and Sánchez's - but the president of the CSD was, who visited Joan Laporta, the president of the CSD, in Barcelona that same morning. Barcelona club.
On the afternoon of January 23, representatives of Ifema and Domenicali went to the ministry headquarters to inform Pilar Alegría about the project.
The meeting with Uribes took place later, on February 6.
The CSD tweet gave a good account of it:
But despite these meetings, the Sánchez Government says it knows nothing about Madrid F1.
"The Government, through the Higher Sports Council, of the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports, has not received any request for financing or official information about the project," he answered the question from the PP deputies.
He is only aware of what he saw through the media: "As announced in the media, the Madrid Formula 1 Grand Prix project would consist of a semi-urban circuit whose epicenter would be IFEMA MADRID, with exclusively private financing. "says Moncloa in its official communication, according to Europa Press.
At Ifema they look at this response from the Government with astonishment.
They do not understand this statement after the meetings held with Alegría and Uribes.
The project, meanwhile, continues its progress, with the competition launched for the organization of the race.
Three foreign companies are bidding to take over the promotion of the event.
The winner will be known in the coming months.