MADRING 2026: F1 returns to the capital and Santander accelerates a story that began two decades ago

With 5,419 kilometers, 22 curves and a route designed to demand the maximum from the drivers, MADRING awaits its grand debut. From September 11 to 13, 2026, the capital of Spain will once again appear on the Formula 1 map, 45 years after the last time it hosted a Grand Prix, when Gilles Villeneuve wrote his name as winner on the historic Jarama circuit.

After almost half a century of waiting, the return of Formula 1 to Madrid is also one more step in an alliance that has been in the making for almost two decades within the paddock, which unites the top motorsport competition with Banco Santander. Formula 1 has become a global technology and entertainment platform while the banking entity has been adapting its presence in this sport at the same pace as the championship was changing.

After almost twenty years accompanying the evolution of the competition, the company faces the debut of the Madrid circuit as Official Retail Banking Partner of Formula 1 and Founding Partner of the project. And we are talking about something that is much more than a sponsorship.

Any fan knows very well that Formula 1 today has little to do with what was experienced in Madrid almost half a century ago. Those races in Jarama were above all a challenge between the skill of the drivers and the technical good work of the manufacturers. Today the championship is also a showcase of technology, data analysis, the use of artificial intelligence, innovation and digital communication. Without losing its competitive essence, it has managed to reinvent itself until it has become one of the greatest sporting and cultural phenomena on the planet.

Formula 1 brings together a global community of 827 million fans, of which 43% are under 35 years old and 42% are women. What’s more, in the race weekends held in 2026, almost 3.7 million spectators have attended, 6% more than in the same period last year.

All these data confirm that the highest category of motorsport is experiencing one of the moments of greatest growth. Today, with the help of social networks, it generates a conversation that remains alive 365 days a year and reaches a community of around 125 million followers.

A Grand Prix is ​​no longer measured solely by what happens on the asphalt. Each event moves tourism, investment, employment, innovation and international projection. Madrid will also notice it. According to a recent report prepared by PwC, the premiere of MADRING will generate an estimated economic impact of 467 million euros, will support around 8,850 jobs and will leave close to 83 million euros in taxes and social contributions. In addition to a competition, Formula 1 has become an accelerator for cities.

MADRING was born at the moment of greatest expansion of the competition and it does so accompanied by a partner who has also gone through his own revolution. Because if Formula 1 has changed its way of competing and relating to fans, Banco Santander has experienced a parallel evolution that has led it to place innovation and sustainable development at the heart of its strategy. The history of the motor show and Banco Santander is a shared history.

When the entity decided to enter Formula 1 in 2007, with the help of McLaren, it understood that the value of this sport went far beyond a car or a driver. Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton occupied all the headlines then, but the bank’s bet never depended exclusively on them. What was behind it was a vision that sought to accompany a competition with the ability to connect markets and millions of fans around the world.

The next stop was Ferrari, giving rise to one of the most recognizable alliances in recent sports history. The Ferrari F10 was presented at the Banco Santander Financial City and for years the red of Maranello and the red of the bank became an inseparable image of the paddock. The results accompanied. In 2010 alone, the entity estimated a return close to 250 million euros, around five euros for every euro invested.

Years later, the entity returned to the championship with a vision more linked to the great challenges that define the future of mobility, an evolution that today reaches a new dimension with its role as Official Retail Banking Partner of Formula 1.

Banco Santander’s link with the championship is not limited to appearing in a car; It extends to content, education, customer experiences, Openbank and innovation projects capable of connecting with an ecosystem that transcends sport.

This change of focus finds the ideal setting in MADRING. As a Founding Partner of the new circuit, Banco Santander wants to be part of the experience long before the cars hit the grid.

Its presence will be integrated into the route itself, with the walls of the circuit dyed red, but also in spaces designed for fans, such as the Grada Santander, located between turns 14 and 15, or the Fan Zone Distrito Santander, designed to bring the universe of Formula 1 closer to the public and prolong the experience beyond the track.

The idea is consistent with the evolution of the championship itself. A Grand Prix no longer lasts just two hours. It starts long before Friday and continues after Sunday thanks to the content, experiences and interaction with a global community that experiences the competition in a different way.

All these actions respond, as we said, to the changes in a sport that is transforming at the same dizzying speed at which its cars advance. He’s not doing bad at all. For years it was said that the championship had difficulties attracting new generations, but new technologies and, specifically, social networks have become the best way to attract younger people.

The teams, the drivers, the circuits and Formula 1 itself as a whole have transformed the way of communicating to reach the youngest people. TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and Twitch are part of the championship strategy, bringing the paddock closer to millions of people who today know both the work of an engineer and the personality of a driver.

This growth among the public is one of the great assets of the championship and, at the same time, one of the spaces where Banco Santander wants to build long-term relationships. The bank’s presence in Formula 1 responds to its interest in participating in a platform capable of promoting opportunities, generating knowledge, connecting with new generations and reinforcing its presence in strategic markets where motorsport continues to grow.

For this reason, MADRING represents the meeting between two stories that have been advancing in parallel for almost twenty years. That of a competition that has managed to reinvent itself until it has become one of the greatest phenomena on the planet, and that of a bank that has accompanied this evolution by also adapting its way of innovating, connecting with people and promoting progress.