The F1 grid has expressed safety concerns over the \u201cmental\u201d new Madring circuit dubbed the \u201ccar killer\u201d.<\/p>\n
The danger of the Spanish Grand Prix was on full display as F2 driver Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak slammed into the wall and his car ended up in an inferno just after turn 19, during Free Practice at F1\u2019s first new venue in three years.<\/p>\n
The Thai driver scrambled to safety and was unharmed, but it had F1 drivers on edge. <\/p>\n
Four-time world champion Max Verstappen, known for being fearless, said the Madring was a potential \u201ccar killer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lewis Hamilton added it is the most difficult track he had seen since Saudi Arabia\u2019s Jeddah Corniche Circuit.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a massively challenging circuit. Like, of all the new tracks that I\u2019ve gone to, this one and Saudi Arabia are like the two closest in terms of how difficult it was to get on top of the car and find the right lines.\u201d<\/p>\n
George Russell was also on edge. <\/p>\n
\u201cChrist. This circuit is mental. I would put this as a circuit as having less margin than Monaco. Purely because of the speed,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Monaco, the walls are closer, but because you\u2019re going slower, if you make a mistake, you\u2019re not into the wall as quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a similar sentiment shared by the rest of the grid.<\/p>\n
Piastri said: \u201cIf I drove like I did in the simulator, I would\u2019ve destroyed a lot of cars.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pierre Gasly added: \u201cI crashed into basically every wall. I\u2019d bet on a red flag.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alex Albon told reporters, \u201cThere are inevitably going to be a few crashes\u201d and Sergio P\u00e9rez said, \u201cIt\u2019s a bit scary.\u201d<\/p>\n
The potential dangers of the Madring circuit was flagged back in August, as during a chaotic two-day test for Formula 3, an incredible 19 red flags came out.<\/p>\n
And it wasn\u2019t like it was just at one or two turns, it was all over the new circuit.<\/p>\n
The track itself is 5.4km with 22 corners, where cars reach speeds of up to 340 km\/h in certain sections. <\/p>\n
Russell said during Friday\u2019s media day it\u2019s the most dangerous track on the whole F1 calendar.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a crazy circuit. I would put it as arguably the most risky circuit of the whole calendar because you have real high-speed corners, sort of Jeddah-esque,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe walls are very close, so there\u2019s no margin for error. When I heard about the 19 red flags in F3, I was a bit surprised. And then after I drove on the sim, I was surprised there were only 19 red flags.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 2026 Spanish Grand Prix will take place on Sunday night (AEST).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The F1 grid has expressed safety concerns over the \u201cmental\u201d new Madring circuit dubbed the \u201ccar killer\u201d. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":889001,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[458536,458512,458524,458520,453052,458521,376963,458551,458528,458532,458542,376730,458516,381222,458534,458525,458549,88040,14203,458540,458527,458543,458511,64,2347,63,458508,458530,843,458514,1906,145883,817,140443,458522,458518,239941,199641,813,46838,816,384943,363648,39598,458539,3875,388569,458509,72304,458535,823,927,35062,458533,458507,458550,458547,1513,5948,458504,135021,60652,16863,64336,14640,2072,403452,371282,254732,270784,85,8825,3604,458554,458506,458526,458552,377299,381594,458515,458505,458531,458537,458517,458513,458519,458529,378229,458538,392916,458544,458510,450915,458553,384703,385877,458541,458546,458523,380192,458503,4048,34224,458545,458548],"class_list":["post-889000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-madring-circuit","tag-s-first-new-venue","tag-s-jeddah-corniche-circuit","tag-s-media-day","tag-22-corners","tag-5-4km","tag-a-bit","tag-a-chaotic-two-day-test","tag-a-circuit","tag-a-crazy-circuit","tag-a-few-crashes","tag-a-lot","tag-a-massively-challenging-circuit","tag-a-mistake","tag-a-potential-car-killer","tag-a-red-flag","tag-a-similar-sentiment","tag-aest","tag-alex-albon","tag-all-the-new-tracks","tag-an-incredible-19-red-flags","tag-an-inferno","tag-arguably-the-most-risky-circuit","tag-au","tag-august","tag-australia","tag-basically-every-wall","tag-car-killer","tag-cars","tag-certain-sections","tag-edge","tag-error","tag-f1","tag-f1-drivers","tag-f1-stars","tag-f2-driver-tasanapol-inthraphuvasak","tag-f3","tag-fears","tag-formula-1","tag-formula-3","tag-formula1","tag-four-time-world-champion-max-verstappen","tag-free-practice","tag-friday","tag-full-display","tag-george-russell","tag-his-car","tag-jeddah-esque","tag-killer","tag-less-margin","tag-lewis-hamilton","tag-monaco","tag-night","tag-no-margin","tag-one-or-two-turns","tag-only-19-red-flags","tag-out-and","tag-pierre-gasly","tag-place","tag-real-high-speed-corners","tag-reporters","tag-russell","tag-safety","tag-safety-concerns","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-sergio-perez","tag-serious-concerns","tag-sort","tag-spanish-gp","tag-speeds","tag-sports","tag-sunday","tag-terms","tag-the-car-killer","tag-the-mental-new-madring-circuit","tag-the-19-red-flags","tag-the-2026-spanish-grand-prix","tag-the-car","tag-the-danger","tag-the-f1-grid","tag-the-grid-piastri","tag-the-madring","tag-the-madring-circuit","tag-the-most-dangerous-track","tag-the-most-difficult-track","tag-the-new-circuit-the-track","tag-the-potential-dangers","tag-the-rest","tag-the-right-lines","tag-the-sim","tag-the-simulator","tag-the-spanish-grand-prix","tag-the-speed","tag-the-two-closest","tag-the-wall","tag-the-walls","tag-the-whole-calendar","tag-the-whole-f1-calendar","tag-this-circuit","tag-this-one","tag-three-years-the-thai-driver","tag-top","tag-track","tag-turn-19","tag-up-to-340-km-h"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=889000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889000\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/889001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=889000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=889000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=889000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}