Ferrari is set to make F1 history this week by starting the second step of a rule that all teams have to follow.
Ferrari is set to make a bit of F1 history later this week by completing the second and final part of a requirement for this season. The team has been strong lately, winning two of the last three Grands Prix. Lewis Hamilton took the win in Barcelona, and Charles Leclerc did the same at Silverstone. Both wins were their first since the 2024 season, which was a tough year for Ferrari after a difficult 2025 campaign.
Right now, Hamilton is third in the Drivers’ Championship, 43 points behind the leader, Kimi Antonelli. But that gap shrank from 58 points after Antonelli faced some problems in the last race, including a wheel shield issue and a time penalty for going off the track, which dropped him out of the points.
However, Ferrari still has some worries. Their slower pace in Austria, which fell between their two wins, was linked to performance and tyre temperature challenges, according to team boss Frederic Vasseur.
After a break for the upcoming Belgian Grand Prix on July 19, Ferrari will use that free weekend to complete their second filming day. This test will happen at a brand-new spot on Thursday, July 9. Both Leclerc and Hamilton will drive at Madrid’s Madring, a circuit hosting an F1 race for the first time this September with the Madrid Grand Prix.
The 5.4-kilometre track loops around Madrid’s IFEMA Exhibition Centre and uses a mix of public and private roads. Even though the circuit isn’t fully finished yet, the FIA says everything is progressing well after their May visit. One exciting feature is a 0.5km long banked corner with a 24% incline, where cars zoom through at about 250 km/h for almost six seconds.
Hamilton and Leclerc will be the first F1 drivers to test the Madring in a race car, while Carlos Sainz drove the circuit earlier this year in a road car. F1 teams get two filming days per year, allowing them to run their current car for up to 200 kilometers. That means the two Ferrari drivers could cover about 36 laps together on the Madring.
Even though the track isn’t finished, this test will give Ferrari and their drivers useful experience with the new circuit. A bonus is the weather—since the race is in September, Madrid’s temperatures are more stable compared to the hotter conditions during the Barcelona GP in June.
Ferrari hopes to be the last F1 team until at least 2028 to win two races in Spain during the same season, as the Barcelona-Catalunya GP will now alternate with the Belgian GP in even-numbered years.