The SF-26 will take to the all-new Madring circuit, venue of the 2026 Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix, for a Ferrari filming day, on Thursday.
Hot on the heels of its Silverstone triumph, at the hands of Charles Leclerc, the iconic Italian marque has reportedly chosen the new Madring circuit, in Madrid, for a private testing session.
Under the current Sporting Regulations, all the teams have two days each calendar year to run a ‘promotional session’ on track.
Having used its first filming day of 2026 at Monza, earlier this year, the Maranello-based squad will now put the SF-26 through its paces, at the brand-new venue for the Spanish GP.
Both, Leclerc and team-mate Lewis Hamilton will be at the wheel of the Ferrari, across the sanctioned 200kms of running, on Thursday.
This would especially be of grave concern for its rivals, as the Scuderia will be the first team to get itself acclimatised to the track, even before the first Friday FP1 session is run, in September.
Why has Ferrari chosen to hold its private F1 test at the Madrid circuit
From the looks of it, the iconic Italian marque is going to be pretty handicapped for its promotional run.
Firstly, as per the regulations, teams can only run demo Pirelli tyres during filming days, and not the 2026-spec racing rubber.
Moreover, the Madring circuit in its present state is ‘incomplete’ and yet to be FIA-homologated.
“No kerbs, no garages nor pitlane finished. You could do a lap with a touring car; that is all,” said a source close to the event organisers as per a report of the Italian arm of Motorsport.com.
That said, despite these inherent limitations, both Leclerc and Hamilton could bag essential data from the session to help the team prepare better for the eventual race weekend, including set up direction and the track’s overall layout.
After its quick pit stop in Madrid, Ferrari are expected to be heading towards the iconic Spa-Francorchamps circuit, for the Belgian GP, in two weeks’ time.
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