RacingAmid viral skepticism, Madrid’s signature Turn 12 — “La Monumental,” a 550-meter, 24% banked parabolic corner set to be the longest on the Formula 1 calendar — has already received its first asphalt layer. Project director Luis Garcia Abad says the city’s semi-urban circuit is on time, with the first asphalt now laid up to Turn 19 and trackside works due by May 30. Final surfacing is planned for June, setting up a September Grand Prix under a long-term deal that runs to 2035.
Garcia Abad outlined the build sequence in a project update shared with media. He said concreting across the site is largely complete, and crews are pushing to finish barriers, fencing, and other trackside elements by the end of May. June is booked for the final asphalt layer, rumble strips, and the main fit-out of pit buildings and grandstands. The target is clear. Put the full racing surface down in June, shake the site down in the summer, and be ready to host Formula 1 in September.
Promoters have pushed back on doubt stirred by viral photos showing rough surfaces and bare patches. They released new images highlighting steady progress across the layout, with more sections asphalted in late March and an intermediate layer planned for April. Early pit-building structures are already visible at the paddock end. Temporary grandstands and the entertainment complex will follow in the next phase once the core racing works are secured.
La Monumental takes shape
The standout feature is Turn 12. “La Monumental” forms a semi-circular, 550-meter arc with 24% banking and up to 10 meters of elevation change. According to the project, F1 cars should spend about six seconds in sustained banking there. The first of three asphalt layers is already down, a step the team calls one of the toughest technical tasks on the build. Crews used two synchronized next-generation pavers to hold millimetric precision around the curve, placing more than 1,800 cubic meters of asphalt in the process.
Materials and methods show how tight the operation is. The asphalt mix is produced in Madrid, at Vicálvaro, and applied at around 170°C with a 30-minute window from plant to paver. The surface design trims the top layer to save roughly 20% in materials without changing the planned performance. That efficiency matters when you are feeding a banked corner of this size and finishing the rest of a new Grand Prix site in a compressed window.
“Formula 1 does not know Madrid, and now that we are bringing it here, it cannot imagine what Madrid can offer,” Garcia Abad said in the project update. Communications chief Nira Juanco added that the sight of “La Monumental” will be an instantly recognizable TV image for the championship, also in materials released by the promoters.