Abad: El Monumental will receive the status of a legendary turn.

      A month remains until the debut Grand Prix of Spain at the newly built MadRing racetrack, and its director, Luis Garcia Abad, has assured that everything is ready for the premiere. Formula 1 returns to the capital of Spain for the first time in 45 years, and the participants of the World Championship still have to familiarize themselves with the features of the new circuit configuration, which is 5.461 km long with 22 turns. MadRing is located on the grounds of the IFEMA exhibition complex on the northeastern outskirts of Madrid in the Barajas area, not far from the city's main international airport.

      Due to the location of the racetrack, it is sometimes referred to as an "urban circuit," but Abad disagrees with this. "That's not the case because we are only using a small section of public road that is part of the IFEMA complex, and there are no residential buildings there," he stated in an interview with the Spanish radio station Cadena Ser. "We utilized this part of the road out of necessity. Since we decided to hold the Grand Prix in this area, we did not have to build a racetrack far outside the city limits. That is why we were able to stay within a budget that does not exceed 10 percent of the costs that would have been required if the racetrack had to be built elsewhere. The IFEMA complex has been in this area for 35 years, and without the support of its owners and management, organizing a Formula 1 race would have been impossible."

      Among the features of MadRing, a turn nicknamed El Monumental stands out – in South America, this term is usually used for the largest football stadiums, but now it is becoming familiar in Formula 1 as well. "The length of the turn is 547 meters, with a banking angle of 24 percent," Abad continued. "I dare say that this turn, the most impressive on our racetrack, will achieve legendary status on a championship scale. One could say that it almost evokes associations with childhood fantasies related to the Scalextric racing game. I take pleasure in the thought that in just a month, Formula 1 cars will be racing here. We wanted to give this turn a special character so that it would be recognizable, and that children, while playing video games, would choose our racetrack."

      "We have a ten-year contract with Formula 1, and after the debut race, we will continue to work on adjusting some nuances, but correcting various minor details is normal; it happens at any new racetrack. By the way, there is not a single grandstand left in all of Europe that we have not rented, and they are all of the highest quality. We always stick to schedules, so all three grandstands are already installed, and we are now finishing the organization of guest areas. But everything starts directly with the racetrack, and the asphalt on it is already perfectly laid, so everything is ready for the Grand Prix."