The FIA has moved to deny that an announcement is imminent confirming that the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix will move to Madrid from the 2026 season.
The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya currently hosts the Spanish round of the F1 World Championship annually and has a contract agreed to also cover the next two seasons.
The circuit would be a semi-permanent venue around the IFEMA convention centre in the northeast region of the city close to the Madrid-Barajas International Airport.
Meanwhile, the 5km track configuration would utilise the IFEMA complex and surrounding fairgrounds as the site for its start-finish straight and paddock facilities.
But the sport’s governing body has dismissed receiving documents related to the nominated Madrid bid that would be required before it can then be authorised.
The FIA president of the Senate and Spanish automobile federation, Carmelo Sanz de Barros, admitted that the proposal would need more time before it can materialise.
“There is a clear process to have a grand prix in a place, and I don’t think that the process is being followed based on what you read,” he told Autosport recently.
“The Spanish automobile federation is where the process starts, because whenever there is a new competition that wants to happen in a country, you have to go to them.
“So, have the Spanish Federation received as of today this project to be analysed, studied and focused? No, they have not seen it. This special step has not happened yet.
“Then, when the Spanish federation consider that this project is a valid project and that they are interested, they channel it to where? To the FIA, because they have to homologate it. If they are talking about a semi-urban circuit, the first thing you have to do is to homologate it and certify, things like that.
“So, if the Spanish federation have not received anything, then therefore they have not sent anything to the FIA, so the FIA have not received anything. So, nobody [inside the FIA] has been working so far on this project that has been in the press in the last few days.”
Although the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya has been the home to the Spanish GP since 1991, the Spanish capital previously hosted the event at the Jarama circuit up to 1981.
De Barros voiced his displeasure with the media leaks circulating about the plans, particularly regarding how a move away from Barcelona to Madrid has been portrayed.
“I’ve been reading also a lot about Madrid trying to steal from Barcelona, and trying to kill Montmelo or things like that…and definitely I think that the way it is being positioned is not correct,” he added.
“This has been probably influenced by the political situation we are living in, of Madrid versus Barcelona.
“Also, and I don’t know if this was announced, but we had some experience in the past, when we were trying to bring the 2030 Olympic Games to Madrid and due to leakage and due to not following processes, this has not happened.
“I hope that this is not the case [with the Madrid race] because I would love to have race in Madrid. But is it the only project that I’m aware of to have F1 in Madrid? No, I know of at least another two.”
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