Ferrari became the first team to turn a wheel in a current Formula 1 car at Madrid's new Madring circuit on Thursday, and the run has split opinion over whether the Scuderia has pulled off a smart piece of business or bent the spirit of the rules.
Charles Leclerc drove in the morning, Lewis Hamilton took over in the afternoon, and between them they put up to 200km on the SF-26 under filming-day rules — special promotional Pirelli tyres, reduced mileage, and the outing counting as one of the two promotional events each team is allowed per season. Ferrari had already used its first at Monza in April.
This was not the venue's first taste of an F1 name. Carlos Sainz, a Madrid native and circuit ambassador, drove the first-ever laps of the Madring back in May — but in a road car. Thursday was the first time a Formula 1 machine had run there.
That distinction is the whole argument. Testing of Previous Cars rules normally stop teams gathering data at a brand-new venue before a race weekend, but a promotional filming day slips through that net. Rivals such as Mercedes, Red Bull and McLaren will only discover how their cars behave at the Madring when they arrive for the Spanish Grand Prix on September 13. Ferrari and its drivers already have a feel for the braking points, the kerbs and the banked La Monumental corner.
How much that is worth divides the paddock. Outlets including Motorsport.com and GPblog framed it as a clear head start. The Race was more measured: Jon Noble called the outing "hugely valuable" for surface and layout data while noting that filming-day speeds are well below racing pace, making it a procedural edge rather than outright dominance. AutoRacing1 went further the other way, arguing the FIA was handing Ferrari an unfair advantage.
The sharper controversy is about money. It was reported that Madring's invitation to Ferrari included covering the team's costs for the event — a meaningful detail under a cost cap where every saved euro can fund development elsewhere. Ferrari has denied that the circuit is funding the test in any way, precisely because of the outrage it would provoke among rivals, who are said to be grumbling behind the scenes.
Madring's organisers, who had the track ready barely in time, pushed back on the criticism. "Getting here hasn't been easy. We've read and heard many biased news stories," said IFEMA Madrid president Jose Vicente de los Mozos. Spanish Grand Prix communications chief Nira Juanco framed the moment as vindication: "A year and a half ago we announced an ambition, a challenge, something many considered impossible."
Ferrari, for its part, kept the tone light, posting that Leclerc and Hamilton were "lapping up that Spanish sun during filming day."
In theory, any team could book a filming day at the Madring. In practice, only Ferrari got the promoter's invitation to inaugurate it — and until a rival matches it, that head start, however small the mileage, is Ferrari's alone.
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*Originally published on [Newsformula One](https://newsformula.one/article/ferrari-first-madring-laps-edge-spark-row). Visit for full coverage.*