The increasing distance between Formula 1 and the International Automobile Federation (FIA) This is a fact and is clear from the many events that took place last year. and the future F1 Madrid GP Maybe another episode. While on the one hand the arrival of F1 in Madrid from 2027 (or in 2026 which coincides with Barcelona in the calendar) is granted, the FIA ensures that before an agreement with the owners of F1 (Liberty Media), the first step for a project like this is for “the Spanish Federation to accept and study it”, something assured by Carmelo Sanz de Barros, first vice president of the FIA and president of RACE (Royal Automobile Club of Spain), that this hasn’t happened yet..
It was debated at the FIA Awards Gala in the newspaper ‘AS’ and ‘Motorsport’. Despite this, it should be noted that many tracks first reach an agreement to enter Formula 1 and that, when they are included and appear on the calendar, they do so with an asterisk indicating that it depends on their FIA homologation. Despite this, Carmelo Sanz de Barros wanted to make his position clear and assured that the first step of the process was to talk to the Federation to approve the route and finally, enter the calendar.
“I’ve been busy here all week, but I’ve been following all the noise that’s been made in the press. All I can say is that as a Spaniard born in Madrid, I want F1 to come back to Madrid, that’s for sure,” he declared.
“As president of RACE, what can I say? The last time Madrid had F1 was in 1981. Having Formula 1 in Madrid is a wish of many people, but I think, and that’s the danger in things that this, there is a process. There is a clear process to have a Grand Prix somewhere, and I do not believe that the process is being followed, nor that the steps to be followed in the process have been made, compared to what can be read,” argued De Barros, president of RACE, which has the Jarama circuit.
“Who is the sports authority of a country?” continued De Barros. “In the case of Spain, it’s the Spanish Automobile Federation (RFEDA), so that’s where the process starts. Whenever you want to do a race in a country, you go to the Federation. And now, Has the Spanish Federation received this project to study, analyze and focus on it? No, he didn’t see it. By the way, just to clarify, the president of the Spanish Federation (Manuel Aviño) is the vice president of the FIA in Europe,” he added.
That is, Carmelo Sanz de Barros clarified, as he already did in the last Spanish F1 GP of 2023 before the presence of the Spanish media, that the project of a Madrid GP in Ifema and Valdebebas has not made the first step of the process any candidacy the thing to do, which is to first present your project to the Royal Spanish Automobile Federation.
“That first step has not yet happened. When the Spanish Federation considers that this project is a valid project and that they are interested, they channel it to the FIA, because they speak like any urban circuit, and in cases like this, The first thing you need to do is approve the circuit, validate it. Who does this whole process? The FIA.”
“The Spanish Federation received nothing, and therefore, they channeled nothing to the FIA, the FIA received nothing. No one, no engineer, no one working until now on that project that appeared in the press in the last days”he added.
When “you have the sports power that approves it, the circuit is certified and approved, and all those things happen,” according to De Barros, the next step is “a big battle.” About “being on the calendar, where there is a waiting list.”
“In this case, we may have started, but I’m not saying no, I’m just saying that so far, neither the Spanish Federation, the national authority in Spain, nor the FIA, have not received any document or anything. about that project that we saw in the press lately. The day we receive it, we will study it,” he explained.
More projects in Madrid
The president of RACE, the organization that owns the Jarama Circuit, spoke about more possible projects in Madrid to host a Grand Prix in the future: “Is this the only project I know of to have Formula 1 in Madrid? No. So I know from at least two others.”
In this sense, Sanz de Barros clarified that the leaks and the fact of not following the “steps of the process” could lead to influencing the future of the candidacy. “When we tried to bring the 2030 Olympic Games to Madrid, because of leaks and non-compliance with the processes, things did not happen. I hope this is not the case, because I want to have a race in Madrid,” he exclaimed.
“Can Spain have two races on the calendar? Yes, we have three in the United States, we have two in Italy. Why not? Have we ever had one? Yes. Is it easy? No. Is it possible? It is possible, but in now with all the needs we have, I don’t see that it will be easy,” he said about the possibility that in 2026 there will be two Grands Prix in Spain on the F1 calendar.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
